alcatraz
Yellow Belt
I was going to post this on the Karate board, but I thought that other Martial Arts may have similar crazy rules, so I decided to post it here instead.
For quite a while I was a member of a Traditional Karate group, which in turn was in membership of a group affiliated to the WKF (World Karate Federation) sanctioned governing body for Scotland, the Scottish Karate Governing Body (SKGB).
Some years ago the WKF introduced a rule called Statute (Article) 21.9 which basically states that if you belong to a group which is affiliated to the WKF, you cannot enter multi-style events which are not sanctioned by WKF.
Despite the fact that Article 21.9 has been declared a breach of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (The Right To Freedom of Association and Assembly), due to the WKF bodies in Europe recieving funding from their Governments Sports bodies (UK Sport over here), the WKF have decided to keep the rule in place.
In the US, Statute 21.9 has been declared un-enforceable due to the Ted Stevens Amateur and Olympic Sports Act.
I compete at all sorts of tournaments, and when I was in membership of the SKGB/WKF, I was informed that if I continued to enter Freestyle events such as those sanctioned by IAKSA, WKA or WAKO (all of whom are OPEN to all styles, not just Karate), then I could be putting the Federation I was a member of in jeaporady of being evicted from the so called Scottish Karate 'Governing Body'.
As I didn't want to be responsible for students loosing potential Government funding through UK Sport and Sport Scotland thru Lottery Funding, and also because I don't like being dictated to by WKF, I resigned from the group I belonged to.
I just want to make sure that if anyone is in membership of a WKF sanctioned body, that they are aware of the restrictive implications of Article 21.9, and that if they live in the UK or EU, that Article 21.9 has already been declared illegal. (Slovakian Karate Govening Body v European Karate Federation/World Karate Federation).
It's a sad day when politics, and egos take over from good natured Karate study and competition.
For quite a while I was a member of a Traditional Karate group, which in turn was in membership of a group affiliated to the WKF (World Karate Federation) sanctioned governing body for Scotland, the Scottish Karate Governing Body (SKGB).
Some years ago the WKF introduced a rule called Statute (Article) 21.9 which basically states that if you belong to a group which is affiliated to the WKF, you cannot enter multi-style events which are not sanctioned by WKF.
Despite the fact that Article 21.9 has been declared a breach of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (The Right To Freedom of Association and Assembly), due to the WKF bodies in Europe recieving funding from their Governments Sports bodies (UK Sport over here), the WKF have decided to keep the rule in place.
In the US, Statute 21.9 has been declared un-enforceable due to the Ted Stevens Amateur and Olympic Sports Act.
I compete at all sorts of tournaments, and when I was in membership of the SKGB/WKF, I was informed that if I continued to enter Freestyle events such as those sanctioned by IAKSA, WKA or WAKO (all of whom are OPEN to all styles, not just Karate), then I could be putting the Federation I was a member of in jeaporady of being evicted from the so called Scottish Karate 'Governing Body'.
As I didn't want to be responsible for students loosing potential Government funding through UK Sport and Sport Scotland thru Lottery Funding, and also because I don't like being dictated to by WKF, I resigned from the group I belonged to.
I just want to make sure that if anyone is in membership of a WKF sanctioned body, that they are aware of the restrictive implications of Article 21.9, and that if they live in the UK or EU, that Article 21.9 has already been declared illegal. (Slovakian Karate Govening Body v European Karate Federation/World Karate Federation).
It's a sad day when politics, and egos take over from good natured Karate study and competition.
