It's game on for BGA this season

The past three years have been a rollercoaster ride for the British Game Alliance, but Matt Cross learns of its big plans for the future

- Matt Cross

As it approaches what may be its most challenging season yet, the British Game Alliance has rebranded itself as British Game Assurance (BGA). It hopes the new name will better reflect what it does and will mark out its place among the group of shooting organisations that makeup Aim to Sustain. However, a name change alone will not address the serious challenges that remain in the game market.

BGA was launched in 2018 to “increase the value of shot game by seeking new markets both in the UK and internationally, linking consumers with processors, promoting the health benefits of eating game, and challenging public perceptions of game meat”. Behind the well-worded press releases and glossy pictures of spiced spatchcock partridge was a relatively simple aim — shift more birds.

Supply and demand

The grim reality was that, for some shoots, dead game was verging on an inconvenience. Game dealers might collect it, but often would not pay. Guns and beaters taking birds made a small dent, but on days when 500 birds were shot, the surplus was still large. With the value of a dead bird so low, there was little incentive to get a quality food product to market. There was a brisk supply of customers who wanted to shoot game, but a weak supply of customers to eat it.

BGA got off to a famously rocky start; a strong sense of its mission among senior staff came across as pushiness. Keepers complained about alliance staff in nice cars and fancy jackets, arriving to tell them they had to change and then leaving. Game dealers grew frustrated with what they saw as interference in commercial relationships they had spent years developing and the National Game Dealers Association refused to endorse the organisation.