Let us hear your voice
Dragon boat participants survey
February 13, 2007 - The IDBF has again applied for membership in the GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federations). On April 27, 2007, the application will be put before the GAISF General Assembly for ratification.
This year, the IDBF wants to show GAISF members who dragon boat paddlers around the world think governs (and should govern) dragon boat sport, so we’re asking you to give your view on the governing body for the dragon boat sport. We hope that GAISF General Assembly members won’t ignore the voices of thousands of dragon boat participants who take part in IDBF-member events.
Although the IDBF application was approved by the GAISF Council in October 2006 and the Council have again confirmed that the IDBF meets all the criteria for GAISF Membership, the final step to membership in the GAISF is ratification by the General Assembly. In both 2005 and 2006, the GAISF General Assembly did not vote the IDBF into membership but in 2006 a swing of just 3 votes towards the IDBF would have resulted in a Yes vote for the IDBF. Hopefully, despite any ICF objections*, the IDBF will gain the extra votes this year.
So add your voice to the voices of dragon boat participants around the globe and complete the on-line survey. Choose English or German. Spanish and Chinese versions will be online in the coming weeks. Share the survey link through your groups, forums and websites.
(If you want to complete the survey, on behalf of your club or group of paddlers,
please do so by emailing a copy back to mikehaslam
aol.com and state in the Name section,
the dragon boat group and the number of people represented in each answer, that is, show a
figure against the Yes or No boxes.)
* In both 2005 and 2006, the IDBF application was objected to by the ICF (International Canoe Federation) on the grounds that the ICF as the Olympic International Federation for Canoeing was entitled to claim dragon boating as a discipline of canoeing. The ICF thus says that it is in rivalry and conflict with the IDBF and therefore the IDBF should not be allowed to be a GAISF Member.
The ICF makes its claims despite the fact that it had never organised a Dragon Boat Championships before 2005 (the IDBF has been doing so since 1995) and despite the GAISF Council clearly stating that Dragon Boating and Canoeing are two different sports and that the IDBF is the autonomous federation for dragon boating and not in conflict with the ICF.