I think you are failing to differentiate properly between “defeatism” and “reality” to be perfectly honest.
The “reality” is that when we (I’m of a similar age to you) were young we only had the choice between, Saturday morning Football or Cricket or a day on the river, or maybe even a day on a lake somewhere.
The local angling club would run monthly coach trips to famous venues if we were really lucky, but money being so scarce would mean that we only got to go on possibly 2 or 3 of those trips a year, but then there were hundreds in the local club so the coaches were always full.
Today, the youth of this Country are, for starters, far more culturally diverse; many hailing from Countries or cultures where “fishing” is only done for the pot when there was little else left to eat and to whom the idea of fishing for pure sport or fun is totally alien to them.
Moreover, today’s youngsters have amazing alternative possibilities to fill their time, and money is far more readily available, (generally) for parents to be able to encourage their children to participate more widely.
Think back, when we were “that age” we would have had the chance to go on a school trip to the Isle of Wight, or maybe to Cornwall; two years ago my daughter went on the school trip to Whistler, Canada for a 10 days school skiing trip.
Back in our day that would have been totally unheard of; times change.
Take a good look at the current Drennan Team England squad and you will see that they range from, what, early 40’s to Stevie Gardner at 61 years of age. My local club, and my syndicate, has an average age of well over 40 and with what was once a thriving junior section is now little more than a handful of youngsters who, mostly, leave by the time they reach 14 years of age.
The truth of the matter is that Angling simply does not appeal to the youth of today, they would far rather sit in their electronic wonderland bedrooms (if parents allow it) and play on their X-Boxes, I-pads and I-phones while watching their 40 inch flat screen TV’s and “tweeting” or engaging in mindless interaction with Facebook.
Such is the “reality” of today’s youth culture ably encouraged by some parents!
I too can easily foresee a time, in the not too distant future, when fishing on a river becomes just a distant memory for many and for others they will be confined to reading about river adventures on their tablets rather than going out and experiencing it for themselves.
As for a “Million Voices for Angling” well, that would probably mean for everyone who buys an annual license to come together with one accord, and that is about as likely as Yeovil town FC winning the EUFA Champions League, not a defeatist attitude but simple logical reality.
As far as the Angling Trust is concerned then you have to accept that, given the huge diversity of opinions over key issues such as Otter and Cormorant predation, EE anglers taking fish and not to even mention paddlers, then I honestly fail to see how they can bring together such diversity under one “church”
To be perfectly honest I personally doubt that I’ll be renewing my membership for the coming year following Mr. Salter’s ill-informed “wading in” on the issue of Hydraulic Fracturing.
Notwithstanding, there are some things in today’s modern life that we can turn around but there are many others that simply will not change regardless of how we might strive to achieve it, and altering the youth culture of today is just one of those things.
I believe it was Salman Rushdie (in his book Shame) who said “Realism can break a writer’s heart”
Maybe he was right . . . . . . . .