Exclusive - SportAccord Shakes Up Membership; Federations Miss Out Again

(ATR) Arm wrestling, poker and rugby league will not be allowed to join SportAccord next month after their rejection last year.

The applications by World Armwrestling Federation, Rugby League International Federation and International Federation of Poker have been put on the backburner by SportAccord leaders, as they prepare to shake-up the membership process at the annual convention in Aarhus, Denmark.

SportAccord president Patrick Baumann confirms to Around the Rings that no new members will be admitted at the general assembly due to an overhaul of the membership process.

Arm wrestling, poker and rugby league were previously recommended by the SportAccord Council in 2016 to become members. The sports' leaders, who met with a newly-created membership committee in Lausanne last week, are among 29 applicants bidding for membership.

ATR understands there is some frustration with the transparency and slow pace of the recognition process.

"The three federations have done a lot of work in trying to fulfill the criteria. We are very appreciative of that," Baumann told ATR. "The reality is that unfortunately they are not at the end of that process."

"The criteria that SportAccord has in it statutes are very strict. So we can’t just close one eye and one ear and move ahead with them," he added.

"Each of them have different topics that they have to work on and we are going to help with them. But right now it [membership] isn’t possible."

Changes to Statutes

A set of proposed amendments to the organization’s statutes, seen by ATR, will be put to a vote at SportAccord’s assembly on April 7. They include a name change for the umbrella body for international federations and rotation of the presidency, reported by ATR on Wednesday. The document circulated to the association’s 120 members this week states that "many [applications] do not fulfill yet the strict criteria".

A proposal will be discussed to grant observer status to applicants "subject to there being no rivalry issues whatsoever". This would allow federations bidding to join SportAccord the right to attend as observers at the annual meeting, while formally confirming their candidature status. According to wording of the revised statutes, it would help "accelerate their efforts to become a member of SportAccord and allow the administration to assist them in the process".

Of the other 26 outstanding applications, Baumann said SportAccord executives need to be "very cautious" about some rivalry issues.

Asked for his message to those federations concerned about the transparency of the recognition process, he said: "We are absolutely cleaning the whole process. We are making it very transparent.

"We are not yet there but we are going to set up a unit that will be working hand in hand with the applicants… and at some point decisions will need to be made."

Baumann said discussions with the IOC were also taking place. "It’s not that simple. It does take time, which is why the council felt that we need first to make sure we have the process well aligned between us and IOC recognition and what exactly we are going to do with the strict criteria we have in our statutes."

The secretary general of the international basketball federation said he plans to invite all 29 bidders to Lausanne for an information day in the summer, which would be followed by individual meetings "to help them to fill in a file so that the file can be accepted". This would be the first phase of the new membership process.

The SportAccord Convention takes place April 3-7.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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