“The NPO victories of ‘Ons Louis’ and ‘Nova’ in 1993 actually meant a milestone in our pigeon career at the time. Of course we had previously won a 1st prize in a big race, but a joint NPO competition from province 10 and 11 … that was something special. And then two in one year! This of course lead to the necessary attention in the Dutch and foreign press. When we won the national championship 1-day long distance in 1994 and another 3 NPO victories ’94 en ’95 (with ‘Johan’, ‘Sultan’ and ‘Zora’), our name was completely established. Fanciers from near and far came to acquire something out these lines. That was not always possible because even if a pigeon had won a 1st NPO, we carried on racing them and then you have a ramp race and the pigeon was lost. We didn’t want a worst case scenario and decided that our real toppers were always moved to the breeding loft … and that turned out to be a wise decision!”
A wonder couple
“Such a topper with which we didn’t take any risks ‘The Eric’, who shined with 3 first prizes in big races. He came out a son of the ‘Jonge Raket from ‘76’ from the Janssen brothers, crossed with the 112, a direct Louis van Loon hen. It turned out to be a golden move to transfer ‘Eric’ to the breeding loft, because from him we bred the 1st NPO Etampes winner ‘Sultan’, but also ‘Gentil’, a wonder cock that represented the Netherlands in the Olympiad in 1997 in Basel and then in both 1994 and 1995 he sat in the top 5 by the world championship long distance, organized at the time by Versele Laga. He was sublime in the hand; I had to have a top hen for him. Something special, and when I was visiting the awards ceremony of Sport magazine De Duif in 1997, I saw his future partner. A beautiful late hen from 1996 bred out the 1st Nat. Ace pigeon Middle Distance of Belgium, the world famous ‘Kannibaal’. I had to pay a lot for her, but knew that I had bought a wonder breeding mother. Because I bought her by the Golden pigeon celebration she was given the nickname Golden Lady’. The first youngster that I weaned in 1998 from the coupling ‘Gentil’ x ‘Golden Lady’, was given the ring number NL98-5821416 … it turned out that a new wonder had been born!”
C. & G. Koopman were big stars in the world championships that Versele Laga organised in the middle of the 90’s.
They were, amongst other things, crowned as:
1994 – 1st general world champion
1995 – 2nd general world champion
1996 – 4th general world champion
1997 – 7th general world champion
1997 – 1st world champion youngsters with ‘Emperor Qin’
1998 – 2nd general world champion
A wonder cock
The 416 was only a small cock, hence his nickname ‘Kleine Dirk’. His deeds turned out to be great, directly in his birth year when he was crowned as 5th world champion youngsters. As a yearling In 1999 he gave me a rich feeling. Partly due to 2 NPO victories he won the title 1st National Ace pigeon by sport magazine the Vredesduif. I thought ‘this has to be my new breeding diamond’. He also won both NPO races from Troyes and Bourges, the race from Bourges even had a speed under the 1.000 metres per minute, 996 to be precise. You will only see this by real toppers!! In his season as a yearling he won 19 prizes in 20 races. So I didn’t want to part with him for anything. Yet I allowed myself to be lured into naming a price to an interested buyer at the end of 1999. I named an astronomical amount, but had Goose bumps just thinking that ‘Kleine Dirk’ would leave. Luckily the buyer was no longer interested and he remained in Ermerveen, where I had already set up my pigeon paradise.”
Super breeding lines
“It soon turned out that I should be glad that I kept this super cock in the breeding lofts. Because brothers and sisters so as ‘Annelies’ and ‘Yi Min’, but also ‘Mr. Ermerveen’ and ‘Miss Ermerveen’, out half-brother ‘Noble Blue’, shined in the races! Together with other brothers and sisters they bred toppers so as National Ace pigeon ‘Amoré’ and ‘Ermerveens Hope’. Children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of ‘Kleine Dirk’ were spread over the entire world as stock pigeons. Uncountable winners have the blood of this unique crack, indeed, one can even say that this pigeon has written history. The great class of his blood lines became more and more evident; just look at 2009. More than the average number of National Ace pigeons Carry the blood of ‘Kleine Dirk’.”
NPO victories
“The emergence of the descendants of the super couple ‘Gentil’ x ‘Golden Lady’ actually occurred at the time that I moved to my farm in Ermerveen, where I had all the conditions for experiencing the pigeon sport at the highest level. From that moment on there was one highlight after another. Between 1999 and 2005 I managed to achieve no less than 12 NPO victories. Almost without exception Gentil’ and ‘Golden Lady’ were at the basis of the winners. The nicest was probably Le Mans in 2005, when, for the first time in the Netherlands, a 1-day race was liberated nationally. ‘Magic Man’ won this race in North-Netherlands and from the entire Netherlands, whereby we had to race 150 km further than the South Netherlands, he was third from the 99.104 pigeons in the competition. Believe me; winning an NPO race is never normal. Whether it is your first or fifteenth victory … the adrenaline always makes your heart beat faster.”C. &
Between 1993 and 2005 C. & G. Koopman won no less than 17 NPO races …
We have put them in order for you:
Date/year Place km Name pigeon nr. p. prov. 10 nr. p. NPO
26-6-1993 Bourges 698 ‘Ons Louis’ 5.557 7.688
28-8-1993 Orleans 638 ‘Nova’ n.a. 8.645
15-5-1994 Creil 493 ‘Johan’ 8.130 16.439
28-5-1994 Etampes 580 ‘Sultan’ 7.393 15.750
26-8-1995 Creil 493 ‘Zora’ n.a. 5.856
15-5-1999 Troyes 529 ‘Kleine Dirk’ 17.883 11.323
10-7-1999 Bourges 700 ‘Kleine Dirk’ 7.155 4.742
21-8-1999 Orleans 640 ‘Wonder Lady’ n.a. 5.163
13-5-2000 Troyes 529 ‘Ms Ermerveen’ 13.137 8.646
8-7-2000 Bourges 700 ‘Kadir’ 5.831 3.897
15-7-2001 Orleans 640 ‘Emira’ 10.825 7.075
29-6-2002 Orleans 640 ‘Ermerveens Hope’ 9.188 5.962
4-6-2004 Ruffec 888 ‘Miss Waarle’ n.a. 3.963
5-6-2004 Ablis 588 ‘Deng Lin’s Favorit’ 10.609 6.288
18-6-2004 St. Vincent 1.178 ‘Miss Waarle’ n.a. 1.334
15-5-2005 Chantilly 499 ‘Matulin’ 12.389 8.075
11-6-2005 Le Mans 705 ‘Magic Man’ 8.491 (3rd against 99.104 p. nationally)
Shortly on PIPA:
C. & G. Koopman Trilogy (part 3) – world pedigree nr. 1
‘Eric’
1st Uden 15.511 p.
1st Beek 14.881 p.
1st St. Ghislain 2.206 p.
‘Gentil’
Olympiad pigeon Basel 1997
2nd world champion long distance 1995
4th world champion long distance 1994
1st Orleans 4.006 p.
1st Minderhout 1.407 p.
Son ‘Eric’
‘Golden Lady’
Wonder breeding hen!!
Mother ‘Kleine Dirk’, ‘Annelies’, ‘Yi Min’, ‘Mighty Man’, etc.
Grandmother ‘Amoré’, ‘Ermerveens Hope’, ‘Magic Man’, ‘Mr. Ermerveen’, etc.
Daughter ‘Kannibaal’ (D. & L. van Dyck)
‘Kleine Dirk’
1st Nat. Ace pigeon 1999
5th world champion youngsters 1998
1st NPO Troyes 17.833 p.
1st NPO Bourges 7.155 p.
1st Maaseik 3.522 p.
1st Troyes 2.423 p.
Son ‘Gentil’ x ‘Golden Lady’
‘Annelies’
1st Chimay 15.438 p.
2nd Troyes 13.137 p.
2nd Chimay 10.000 p.
Daughter ‘Gentil’ x ‘Golden Lady’
‘Mister Ermerveen’
1st Nat. Ace pigeon middle distance 2000
Olympiad pigeon Kaapstad 2001
1st Chimay 10.000 p.
1st Reims 768 p.
3rd Hasselt 4.422 p.
3rd Chimay 1.828 p.
Son ‘Noble Blue’ (out ‘Golden Lady’) x ‘Lioba’
‘Ermerveens Hope’
Olympiad pigeon all-round Lievin 2003
1st NPO Orleans 9.188 p.
1st Boxtel 2.397 p.
2nd NPO Ablis 13.020 p.
2nd Hannut 4.393 p.
Son ‘Jonker doffer’ x ‘Judy’ (sister kleine dirk)
‘Amoré’
Olympiad pigeon long distance Lievin 2003
1st Nat. Ace pigeon extreme long distance 2002
Daughter ‘Black Power’ x ‘Yi Min’ (sister ‘Kleine Dirk’)
‘Magic Man’
1st Nat. Le Mans East-Netherlands 13.461 p.
3rd Nat. Le Mans 120.936 p.
Son ‘De Lorris’ x ‘Annelies’
