Which is exactly what I have done! The RN and after that several garages and a spell private hire driving amongst other mundane jobs do little to enrich the worker.
Are Ploughing Matches Under Threat?
- Thread starter Cordiale
- Start date
Sprayer
Member
- Location
- South Derbyshire
Having tried advertising in the local paper and putting around 100 posters, all printed off my PC on cheap photographic paper to make them look better, to attract the public to a charity match that we cannot charge for admission, due to insurance limitations, but can collect money by asking for donations and sell raffle tickets. The sum total of all this was abuse when asking for donations an attempted claim for damages from some lady who claimed the site was dangerous due to the stubble and her wearing sandals, an advertising bill for £75.00 me out of pocket for the posters and several hours distributing them for an extra return of about £100.00 up on the previous year. We decided it wasn't worth the effort after that. We still raise in the region of £900.00 per match on 2 matches per year for charity.
If you want to find out when & where the matches are look on this forum, facebook match ploughing or on the SOP website. The other place to find out is join your local vintage tractor club, usually about a tenner for the year, and ask the members. Sorry I make no apologies for my attitude on all this but after organising over 30 matches and being involved in several more one knows the limitations. We usually get between 80 and 90 ploughing at our open matches.
People who never get involved never know the work that goes into these things. The great sadness in the past few months is the huge number of cancellations, many at fairly short notice. It is a thankless task faced with upwards of a hundred phone calls to inform competitors, judges, caterers and insurers and then hunt for an alternative date in what is, by this time, an overcrowded calendar. This is unproductive work which is heaped on top of what turns out to be the initial unproductive work and expense. I have probably lost about £50 this spring in my own entry fees but I am absolutely adamant that I want no refunds because the money to organise these events has largely been spent and gone down the drain. I despise people who hang on until the last moment or try to enter on the day for fear of losing their entry money.
Those matches that present take home trophies have bought them, complete with year identification plates. Those who present perpetual trophies are lucky in this respect but suffer the work to get them returned engraved and only those who give cash prizes save trouble and expense. Some perpetual trophies are solid silver and very valuable. If not presented or accepted by the competitor they have to be stored by the organiser/secretary and in theory should be insured. Another responsibility that goes unseen.
So to those who have no time or inclination to get involved but begrudge their cost of trophy engraving and their entry fee it is time to look elsewhere for their entertainment.
Those matches that present take home trophies have bought them, complete with year identification plates. Those who present perpetual trophies are lucky in this respect but suffer the work to get them returned engraved and only those who give cash prizes save trouble and expense. Some perpetual trophies are solid silver and very valuable. If not presented or accepted by the competitor they have to be stored by the organiser/secretary and in theory should be insured. Another responsibility that goes unseen.
So to those who have no time or inclination to get involved but begrudge their cost of trophy engraving and their entry fee it is time to look elsewhere for their entertainment.
Ah, so you admit it, not only do you want the winner to engrave the trophy, its in your interest to make sure he stores and insures it! No doubt you will be looking to see if you can charge him rent.
You are correct in that some trophies are valuable at one match I have attended two of the trophies add up to £48.000! I for one dont want that sitting on the mantle shelf!
I have seven cancelled matches so far, but have left the entry fees to help off set the loss to the societies, entry fees that I do not begrudge.In fact I would support an increase here to cover the engraving cost.That would make a trophy just that, at the moment, its a liability.
Ploughmen can always find a bit of land to plough, poss large enough to accommodate a few friends.To many , those to whom the ploughing is most important thing,( I exclude the "pot hunters") thats all thats needed. Ploughing matches can run, indeed did, without societies, can societies operate without ploughmen?
Now, having brought the pot to the boil once again, let us step back and try to view things from both sides of the divide.Ploughmen who are only that take what organisations offer,an event to take part in, in a similar manner organisations do the same in accepting ploughmens offer to compete. It is ironic that I am being reviled here for refusing to take up any societies offer to help me empty my bank account!
You are correct in that some trophies are valuable at one match I have attended two of the trophies add up to £48.000! I for one dont want that sitting on the mantle shelf!
I have seven cancelled matches so far, but have left the entry fees to help off set the loss to the societies, entry fees that I do not begrudge.In fact I would support an increase here to cover the engraving cost.That would make a trophy just that, at the moment, its a liability.
Ploughmen can always find a bit of land to plough, poss large enough to accommodate a few friends.To many , those to whom the ploughing is most important thing,( I exclude the "pot hunters") thats all thats needed. Ploughing matches can run, indeed did, without societies, can societies operate without ploughmen?
Now, having brought the pot to the boil once again, let us step back and try to view things from both sides of the divide.Ploughmen who are only that take what organisations offer,an event to take part in, in a similar manner organisations do the same in accepting ploughmens offer to compete. It is ironic that I am being reviled here for refusing to take up any societies offer to help me empty my bank account!
A very valid point. The society bit suggests that the organisation is run by a committee, has the necessary officers, its own bank account, has minuted meetings and can affiliate to other organisations such as the SOP. I run my match as an individual but I have friends who help with the pegging out etc.. I do not have a separate bank account but perhaps I should, and I do not bank entries until after the match though I obviously pay for trophies, insurance, toilet hire, stationery , postage and other incidentals up front. The income is easy to calculate by anyone who is interested and all invoices are available for scrutiny. Any donors plus the landowner get a copy of the simple accounts and the surplus goes to the landowners choice of charity.
It is not rocket science but it means that I involve myself in many expenses for which there is little guarantee of a certain return. I can afford the potential loss but there is no carried forward profit from one match to the next to act as a buffer. I guess that is the difference between a one man band and a society.
Enough now Aitch. You are starting to twist things. It’s in the competitors own interest to make sure the trophy is insured. If you part the red mist of playing the badly done to card, you will see that Bob simply said that it is another cost to the society.
Stop banging on about who pays for the engraving. If there is prize money then it is not really a cost to the winner. If it’s a charity match then playing the poor card goes very much against the grain.
Getting quite a pack of cards now Aitch. The badly done to card. The victim card. The pauper card. The it’s alright for you card. All getting a bit tiresome now Aitch. Time to call it a draw.
Accusing societies of offering to help you empty your bank account is a pointless, low and insulting shot. The very thing that sets people wondering whether all the effort to stage a match is really worth the effort if that’s how the majority of people view the situation.
Have you ever stopped to consider Aitch. It seems to be a continual contest of you against the world. The rest of the world can’t all be wrong!
Roy Stokes
Member
- Location
- East Shropshire
What is a pot hunter ? possibly a talented ploughman/woman who decides to attend a few matches outside his/her locality ? if so ploughing may be important to them too ? please explain your version of this
The pot hunter is the man who looks at the entry list/and area and selects matches in which his class is poorly represented, making getting the trophy easier. Common description of quite a few in years gone by. I doubt so prevalent now, as the standard has risen, and numbers increased. It was often applied unfairly to people who were the only entrant in their class, when they were trying to keep the class alive.
Tonym
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
What about the beginners who's first match was years ago and the proffesional novices who never move up to the open? Are they not trophy hunting. This is as rife as handling but seems to go un-noticed by most match organisers.
You can add in all the one make classes, thats the reason they started, but the object is defeated now, so many in them!
mf298
Member
- Location
- Ayton, Berwickshire
we had 17 in this class last.year at the Scottish match. Very definitely growing!
- Location
- 200 miles N,NW of New York
yes and it was good to see
- Location
- Cirencester
I would disagree re one make classes, 21 Fergies entered at Whitchurch the other day and some very good ploughmen/ploughwomen. I think some of the one make classes have certainly helped match ploughing in bringing new blood to the sport. I even gather a certain Mr Stokes was due to have a dabble with a Fergie at Denbeigh this weekend!!! Don't knock it till you've tried it!!! We have a lot of banter/fun and some of the work produced would put some vintage mounted boys to shame! (none of mine I would add!)
Roy Stokes
Member
- Location
- East Shropshire
I would like to add Harry that in the past you have complained that the bigger the wallet the more chance of success, World style being an example used, one make classes take away the cost and give a much leveler playing field but you can find fault with this as well.
As I said, one make classes were started by people who couldnt win anywhere else.That no longer applies as the numbers competing have risen. However the average standard of work is well below that in the vintage and classic classes. If you take expenditure as a % of available funds, I doubt there is much difference over all the classes.
- Location
- Cirencester
I would disagree re standard of work, us Fergie boys and girls dont do so badly when lumped into the Vintage mounted class, we often enter matches that dont have a Fergie Class and that's where we end up, we're unlikely to win but we're certainly never last by a large margin, I have had a 4th (by 1 point) in Vintage Mounted using a Fergie Lea plough, and yes there were more than 4 of us ploughing before you ask!!
At North Notts 3 or 4 years ago some of the best work in the field was ploughed with fergy ploughs. Richard Ingram often turns in the best work of the day with a fergy plough. John Kitchen is always there or there about with his, as he was last weekend at Selby.
Light sandy soil, right man in the seat and they usually go well.
I think their popularity is more a numbers out there owned by people who want to have a go than bad losers looking for trophies.
I won't comment on Richard and his Fergie ploughing because I have watched it on You Tube. Generally speaking Fergie kit is not competetive in vintage any more than vintage is in World style. Vintage is protected by the rules pertaining to that group in exactly the same way that specific make classes are but that does not make them any less worthy of the work that they do. In commercial ploughing a good ploughman with a Fergie produced excellent work in the right conditions and it was therefore commercially acceptable. The average ploughman with his Ransomes was no better, maybe much worse. Match ploughing is an art form and a different ball game hence the need for close regulation with regard to machinery used and the protection required for each classification. I see no problem with this at all.
At the last national, the results were as follows. Vintage mounted first, 247, second,238, third,232. fergy class 226,208, 207. Not even close.
For myself, going to a match with any thing less than the best kit I can obtain is unthinkable. I go to do the best bit of work I can and that means the best kit.
Last edited:
wuddy
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders
Unless the two classes were judged by the same people there is no way you can compare the points!
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