The history of pigeon racing in Belgium - Commine Julien (Leers-Nord, FR) for more info click inside

Julien Commine lived in Lees-Nord, which is situated between Mooeskroen and Doornik, just past Hereseaux near the French border. He passed away in 1938/1939.

His entire lot of 116 pigeons was sold in the Lion d’Or in Brussels on 16 February 1939. Unfortunately his pigeons were not always correctly valued. In 1939 Europe was close to the Second World War and fanciers were obviously not willing to pay a lot of money for new pigeons. Still, the 116 pigeons were sold for a fair price. Some fanciers from Brussels seized the opportunity to purchase dozens of pigeons, namely Maurice Ameel, Albert Warzéé, Othman Catulle, as well as Emiel Dupont from Herseaux, who was in fact a close friend of Julien Commine.

At an early age, Julien Commine quit school to become a farmer and he also became a horse breeder. It was during his time as the town mayor (between 1900 and 1914) and as a horse breeder that he came into contact with a few eminent pigeon fanciers and he soon decided to build his own loft. Back then the Wegge pigeons were widely available and he obtained some birds with pure lines. He bought a round of Wegge pigeons from the loft of Michel Fache in Poperinge and he also purchased some of the best birds in the loft of Vandevelde in Oudenburg. It was in 1900 that Julien Commine started as a fancier. His first and also his best stock pair consisted of an exceptional Wegge cock and a hen from the line of the then famous 25 hen of Michel Fache.

In 1904 this couple bred the famous Arrière Saison; a cock who had a great career as a racing pigeon until 1910. In that same year Julien obtained a blue coloured hen (of the vuil-blauwe line) from Vandevelde in Oudenburg. This hen was a daughter of Vandevelde’s Vuil-blauwe hen, which was a famous pigeon at that time: she had won a 12th, 9th and 5th prize from Bordeaux in 1908, 1909 and 1910 respectively.

In 1911 this vuile blauwe Vandevelde hen of Julien was paired to the renowned Geschelpte witpenduiver, which had won two second prizes from Bordeaux at the age of only 18 months, twice behind Vuil-blauwe of Vandevelde. This pair had bred some outstanding descendants up to 1914, when the first World War broke out. They were also the parents of Napeoleon, which was born in 1911 and which would win several top prizes between 1912 and 1914, including first prizes from Creil, Chartres, Bordeaux and Orleans and a second prize from Bordeaux in Torhout. In 1914, in the race from Tours Dottenijs, Napoleon missed a prize. He arrived at his loft three days after the release. Shortly before the war of 1914-1918 Julien purchased another valuable hen from Leopold Lamote in Moeskroen.

During the war, Julien Commine remained town mayor of Leers-Nord and his lofts were guarded by a team of six soldiers. During the night Julien could enter his loft and take care of his pigeons once in a while. However a soldier noticed one day that some eggs and young birds had been taken away from their nest bowls. This resulted in a quarrel between the soldiers and the owners of the farm. It did not take long before the soldiers decided to move the pigeons to Brussels. 

After the armistice in 1918, Julien did everything to bring his pigeons back to his loft. He found about 40 of them in Brussels and they were in a fairly good shape. His best pigeons were still in Germany and he tried to find them as well. Unfortunately his pigeon Napoleon could not be found. It was only in 1919 that he was informed that the eight year old Napoleon had been found in Germany. The son of Commine travelled to Germany to get their favourite racing pigeon back. The journey took almost four days and his son covered 1400 km to Germany and back.

On 19 July 1914, Napeolon competed in his final race from Orléans to Doornik, where he celebrated a glorious victory. On that same day Paul Sion, a fancier from Tourcoing, had agreed with Julien to bring his Bonne bleu productrice to Leers-Noord to pair it with Napoleon. When the war broke out, Julien Commine had already collected a few eggs from this pairing. The result was that they bred some sons and daughters (and grandchildren) in Leers-Nord right up until the soldiers took away his pigeons. When Napoleon and some of his other top class pigeons returned to the loft it was obviously time to make a fresh start.

In the winter of 1918/1919 and in the year 1919 he put some of his pigeons together and he bred several nests of new pigeons. At that time many fanciers were looking for reinforcements and he decided to sell 100 pigeons on 25 December 1919 for an average price of 500 Belgian francs (approx. 12.5 euro). After that auction, Commine had exactly nine pigeons left in his loft: eight descendants of Arrière Saison x Napoleon and La Bonne Rousse van Sion (which was a pigeon from the lines of Salembier-Sion-Commine). It was with these nine pigeons that Julien Commine became a big champion with a successful career that lasted from 1920 to his death.

We have already told you what happened to the Commine pigeons after his passing. Forty years after his death there is hardly any Belgian fancier with a 100% Commine pigeon in his loft. Still, there were many fanciers with pure Commine pigeons in the period between 1944-1960. Emiel Dupont from Herseaux was one of the fanciers who was remarkably successful with his Commine birds. He purchased his champion from Jerome and Roger Vereecke and it was an expensive purchase. On the other hand there was a pastor from Gijzegem and his brother Uyttenhove from St.-Gills-Dendermonde who were able to keep the Commine pigeons in their purest form. The Commine pigeons were excellent sprint and middle distance pigeons and they were often successful in the long and extreme distance races as well. Julien Commine was a great name in the history of pigeon racing in Belgium.

Dupont Emile from Herseeuw was a close friend of Julien Commine who purchased several
great pigeons at Julien's auction in 1939.