National Governing Bodies For All
FOR quite some time Sport England has been trying to unify martial arts under National Governing Bodies. It is an uphill struggle and one imagines a thankless task.
Their aim is to bring unification among the disparate groups that make up our world (who, let’s admit generally can’t agree on anything!).
Sport England believe it would make their task of over-seeing martial arts easier and allow the public a one contact point where they could check instructor qualifications and insurance etc.
In the sports martial arts arena it would also mean that there was a unified team drawn from all clubs and groups and not just a select few that often happens at present.
This means, for example, that the Great Britain Karate team could draw from a wider pool of talent.
All good stuff – I’m sure you’ll agree?
But I have reservations about this long-term goal.
First off haven’t we been down this road before with the now defunct Martial Arts Commission? Instead of unifying martial arts it proved to be divisive with more groups staying out of it than eventually joining.
Secondly, who are the people who are going to decide who is ‘official’ and who isn’t? And what criteria would they use to do this?
If you are ‘outside’ the governing body does this mean you can’t teach?
Will groups that don’t want to join these governing bodies be banned from using council-run leisure centres because they don’t have the correct paperwork saying they are recognised by the governing body?
And are we going to see a situation where say an Aikido instructor has modified his chosen style then can’t join the ‘gang’ because it doesn’t fit in with some one else’s idea of what Aikido should be?
And, where does it leave those arts such as my own which are not sports based, therefore do not fall under Sports England’s remit?
Another concern is the old thorny problem of martial arts politics. Are we going to see great instructors with years of experience banned from being part of the governing bodies because some one on the panel simply doesn’t like them?
Also, if Sport England is going to insist everyone has to take an official exam to become an official instructor who will be pocketing the huge amounts of money involved?
This is of course still a pipe dream for Sports England and at present there is no real prospect of this coming to fruition any time soon.
Why? Because martial artists are a bloody-minded lot that hate anyone telling them what to do…
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Hi all. anon 1 here.
There is a need for certain rules and obvious controls in martial arts but I think the existing organisations being composed of martial artists with generally a balanced view of the requirements do a great job. 'Too many cooks' comes to mind, especially when some of them are not experienced with the 'menu' when Sport england are mentioned. Maybe SE could on request advise the relevent ma bodies. But not having any powers over them. Too much red tape is starting to strangle the arts already with some very experienced Martists 'giving up' rather than 'giving in' to the tape dispenser.
I am afraid i must agree with ANON 1 on this one, two many cooks will spoil the broth. Lost count of the amount of arguments that have led to association breaking up spliting the students in two because of differance in opinion. whilst i agree it could be a good idea to all work under the same umbrella, realistically i cannot see it ever happening. The great thing about the association i am with is so long as you meet their strict criteria as an instructor they leave you alone to get on with your club and teching. Not sure if i fancy someone breathing down my neck for every little rule in the book.