I was looking through the classified adds & seen a young angler selling off a rod, to help fund a trip to Italy to fish an international. I gather from what he says, he's from England. Do they not get sports fundings or grants to help them out or is all the money being swallowed up by the Olympic games & all other sports made to suffer. There can be no prouder moment in anyones chosen sport, than to represent your country. Surely this young lad does not need to go to such drastic measures.

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All that glitters, will catch anglers.

There is a lot of fundraising activity for their trips - often advertised on this forum. Obviously it isn't quite enough...

Hmm...and does manage to have some reasonably decent kit that's surplus to requirements every now and then...

I don't undestand the point that you are trying to make?

Each member of the world team is having to find £1400 each to fund their trip. This is with substantial funding from the England Youth fly fishing association. They will not have much money left once this is over.

The cost of the trip to Italy is crazy.

Recently I read that there was only a few who fished in the youth qualifiers.

Now reading that each of them who are in this years team,have to find £1400 is a ridiculous amount for a youngster to find.

That figure has just blown me away!

No wonder there isnt many entering with costs like this,never mind the costs just to qualify.

I wish everyone of them the best of luck and hope they can acheive it.

What annoys me even more is that the goverment have the thumb screws on all of us at the moment and still continue to waste money, funding elsewhere,when they should be supporting those who need it,like, representing their countries and its people who live here.

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Kevin

Devil's Advocate here.

There was a very successful state intervention to assist teams representing their own country back in the late 1930's. As a result Mercedes Benz and Auto Union were almost unbeatable in Grand Prix racing. State intervention is not altruistic. It is done for propaganda and the glorification of the state. The money comes from taxpayers.


Should we be using fish as a means of measuring prowess amongst anglers?
Should we be assisting young people to take part in competition fishing anyway?
Should we even encourage young people to think of fish as some kind of prowess tokens?

Not all sports get funding from such things as the Lottery, any child wanting to become a race driver has to find a lot more than £1,400 if they are to be successful. (Or their families do anyway).

If there are folk who believe that competition fishing is a good thing and if they want to see young people joining the competition world, then aren't they the folk who should be assiting with the funding rather than the taxpayer?

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

I agree with you on some of your points. I don't see why the taxpayers money should help support this but when you look at some of the other things that are being supported, it's easy to get annoyed that these lads don't get much help.

The EYFA do an incredable amount of work just to give these lads this opportunity but they are a bunch of volunteers with limited time and resources.

As for the debate about whether youngsters should be encouraged to fish competitivley, that's a no brainer in my opinion. The life experiance and opportunities that fishing for your country brings in unparalleled. If they have a tallent, why should we not help them nurture it?

What frustrates me is the lack of support that the EYFA recieves from the angling community as a whole. There are a handful of angling companys that are very good to the EYFA but the angling media are very inwilling to help.

Some anglers are vehemently opposed to competition fly fishing (remember Ron Clay's epic rant on here last year ?) and it leaves many others cold. So perhaps this lack of support should not be such a surprise.

I am sure plenty will agree with me when I say that if folks want to fish competitively then rock on, it's not for me but as long as it doesn't spoil my fun or bring angling into disrepute then no problem. But I would far rather the general angling community spent what money it can spare on fighting pollution and abstraction and combating the other threats to the sport we love than on sponsoring one branch of it.

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"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

Couldn't agree more but at the moment, the lack of funding is threatening the EYFA's very existance.

Referring to the competition element,firstly.

It is within every person competition,from when we are born and right the way through life it is natural that we compete,Fishing is but another element and doesnt appeal to everyone,but does to some.Each of us will have a talent for something and it is only by trying them do we find our niche.

Fly fishing offers more than just the competitive side of us and can if channeled,go back and into the community,so it is of value outside of fishing also.So much money is spent on how to deter crime etc,when fishing can have an influence on giving youngsters an alternative which is advantagous to everyone and would work out cheaper than current methods and waste.

I agree in part with Richard,but costs are a little less to fish ,than to drive a formula 1 car.
As far as taxpayers money goes,I put it to you this way.We pay to keep people in jail and put them there to feed them,we pay for everything else such as the arts,politicians to do their jobs,roads repair and alot more which Ill not mention,but gets up my nose,so why not channel it into something that would have a benefit to a few of the problems which effect us all.

If fishing gives respect from young to old and vice versa,it helps in the community and mutual respect on both sides can only help a community.Less crime,less resources and money repairing damage where it could be money well spent in helping young anglers in fishing,instead of wasting it on things of no interest or benefit to the wider audience.

just my thoughts on it.

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Kevin