Did you watch it?
One of the main people was romany he was the one doing the bird fights and his family were British not Irish...

Can't say I enjoyed watching it but was intrigued by the cockfighting.

I have seen (without wishing to) cockfighting in Asia, where they attach long steel spurs in place of the fighting cocks' natural spurs. That is altogether a more dramatic and bloody affair, but part of me thinks it's a faster and better death for the losing bird than being slowly pecked top death by the other. I noticed these did not have their natural spurs - were they cut off to alter the fighting style, or would the travellers normally have used the artificial ones off camera?

They were certainly a cockfighting (Game) breed and these usually have natural spurs growing up to 3 inches in length.

I watched some of it and was appalled. My family on my fathers side were all the true old Romany Gypsys and were too busy working hard to earn a living to behave in that way. They valued their animals and treated them with respect, not in a soft soppy way like we do, but their animals were very important to them.
Just because the mans family were british does not make him a true Romany.

My family on my mums side are Romany, yes they did treat their animals wih respect because they were crucial to their livelihood, my great grandfather was a hawker and made wreaths etc to sell, his horses pulled his traps he sold his goods from.

I always try to point out to people that there is a big difference between true gypsies and travellers

Romany gypsies actually originate from India mainly