news - 07/03/2007 Crufts 2007 Thursday - United Kingdom
by Karl DonvilCRUFTS 2007 breaks a lot of records again
If Mr.Charles Crufts would have known that one day his show would grow into the biggest show on the World…
Since his first edition in 1891 the show has an phenomenal entry of 25.000 dogs in competition (22.320 for the show).
This edition was the second largest entry ever. And also the amount of visitors is huge, estimated around 150.000!
A lot of dog people from the UK aswell as those from abroad (5000 overseas visitors) plan to visit Crufts at least once in their lives, alike Mekka for the Muslims, a place of pilgrimage. This has several reasons. In the first place there is of course the Crufts Championship and its prestigious well known Cup, which is probably the best known BIS Dog Cup in the whole world. The cup is treasured and taken care of as if it was made of gold and one is not allowed to touch it. It has several bodyguards to watch over it. But Crufts is also perhaps the biggest market place for doggy attributes of all kind, going from leaches over the newest cleaning products to the most prestigious statues, new or antique. The volume of trade for the over 500 different stands must be massive. If the average visitor spends 10 £ on the market, an entry fee for the show of 12£ average, a few drinks and a snack at 5£ and a cataloge at 3£ (one/family) then we result at an amount of 4.500.000 £ or about 7.500.000 EURO. This includes no entry fee for the dogs, no hotels, no plain tickets, no train tickets or taxis, no travel expenses or parking tickets.
Crufts thanks his recent success not only to these reasons, but of course also to the BBC that broadcasts its daily show, the finals (live) and related programs to more then 50 countries in the world. And of course there is the foreign Press, coming from all parts of the world to make photos and to report. Name one magazine that respects itself and it will have at least a small report and a few photos about Crufts. It is no surprise that every year around 800 press registrations are made.
The most remarkable novelty is the expansion to the NEC Arena and the Pavilion, where all the major events, competitions and shows take place, leaving more room for the rings and the stands and resulting in more comfortable moving around, especially on Saturday and Sunday which are the most popular days for the visitors. The Arena has 6000 seats on offer. On Sunday a seat for the finals was not included in the entry ticket and needed to be reserved as already weeks before the show, the seats were sold out completely, and I can assure you, they were not cheap at all!
The total space occupied is now about 102.000square meters. Since Crufts is open to foreign competition it seems like every year new international competitions are added. Newcomers are the International Heelwork to Musik competition and the Agility Pentathlon.
Cruts does not alone mean competition, it is also and in the first place, the face of the prestigious British Kennel Club, and by definition also the face to the world. Every opportunity is grabbed to put dogdom in the spotlights in its most positive way. Alike any country too often negative news with regard to dogs and pets are blown up out of proportion.
Thanks to the BBC the British Kennel Club is offered the possibility to show the dog in his most positive way, organizing demonstrations of all kinds where dogs are used to assist man.
Very popular is the voting for “Friends for Life” where people can televote for five nominated “hero dogs”. It’s popularity is immense since the start of this item last year. Besides that all kind of stands and demonstrations of charity are on show at Crufts and the British Kennel Club has its own Charitable Trust fund.
In order to prevent bad publicity for dogdom an impressive campaign has been set up this year to warn visitors and children in the first place, not to touch any dog without permission of the owner. On every end of a row of benches one could find a poster to warn them. If anything would happen with thousands of camera’s around and in a country that is known for its very popular gossip newspapers, it would be a drama for Crufts and the Kennel Club.
The Arena was well attended and almost full every evening for the finals and sold out for the finals on Sunday. For new breeds were shown for the first time, the Coton de Tuléar, the German Longhaired Pointer, the Pyrenean Sheepdog and the Japanese Akita Inu. Four other breeds gained Champion status for the first time, the Glen of Imaal Terrier, the Basset Fauve de Bretagne, the Portuguese Waterdog and the Australian Catlle Dog. The British Kennel Club recognizes now 182 different breeds, almost half of what the FCI has recognized.
As usual the finals on Sunday are embedded in a spectacular show. Not only the regular daily Group Judging, but also the “Friends for Life” results take place life on television.
Winner was Molly, favorite of the public and friend for life to his master, 81 year old deaf Tony whom she brought renewed enjoyment for life after Tony’s wife died.
A tradition in the meantime was the following performance of Mary Ray on the music of James Bond. It is difficult to find a new theme every year, but again Mary and her team of Border Collies impressed the public again although less impressive as her best ever performance in 2005 with four dogs.
It was Mr.Zena Thorn-Andrews who had the privilege to judge the best In Show. Mrs.Thorn-Andrews is the wife of Mr.Terry Thorn, another famous judge, unfortunately very ill and hospitalized during the show. She chose Ch/Am Ch Araki Fabulous Willy, pet name Willy, a Tibetan Terrier owned by Messrs Smith and Shaw from Brockworth in Gloucestershire and handled by Larry Cornelius from California. Earlier that day, this dog was chosen best of the Utility Group by Mr.Albert Wright.
It is difficult to keep up the high standard the Crufts team has set, but every year the Kennel Club menages to come up with lots of novelties. Perhaps one small remark! The International Press, that is responsible in the very first place for making Crufts the biggest show in the world, instead of only the UK, should be granted better opportunities to make proper photos of the group winners. Only at the very end of the shooting session and after the dogs and owners are tired of the thousands of flashes in the eyes, the International Press is allowed to come in to take photos too and this while the British Press stubbornly refuses to make place for them. This often results in pictures taken from bad angles or sometimes no pictures at all.
Even Crufts is not perfect!
Text and photos: Karl DONVIL, Executive Director of the World Dog Press Association
Results: see http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?category_cs=33
