WFDF successfully holds virtual Congress with approval of Bylaws revisions

Congress approval sets new format of membership structure

The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that it has successfully held its annual Congress on Saturday, 21 August 2021 which saw the approval of a set of Bylaws revisions unanimously approved by the delegates of the WFDF membership. The applications of five new national federation members were also approved -- bringing the number of national federations in WFDF to 100 -- in addition to the Associate Membership of the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA). This was the second year in a row that the Congress had been held solely on a virtual basis.

“The unanimous approval of the Bylaws revisions is a strong message demonstrating the trust of the WFDF membership in the Board and the solidarity of the WFDF’s member National Federations and Flying Disc community worldwide,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “With a number of more technical changes based on the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee with regard to our governance principles, it is also a clear support of our member federations for our Olympic ambitions.”

“The revisions address a number of issues, including the WFDF national membership structure, WADA Code compliance requirements, the continental representation within the Board of Directors and the renaming of and formalising of new WFDF Commissions like the Spirit of the Game, Parasport and Sustainability and Legacy Commissions. These changes will further contribute to the high aspiration of WFDF to good governance and sustainability principles.”

Under the new Bylaws WFDF has now eliminated the potential for extended provisional membership status of National members with all now converting to regular National member status upon fulfilling specific criteria and approval by Congress after a trial period. The revision will clarify that all National (regular) members have voting rights and have the right to participate in WFDF sanctioned events, taking effect on 1 January 2022.

Other revisions more explicitly establish WADA Code compliance as a requirement and condition for WFDF membership and clarify that there can be no more than one Member federation for Flying Disc sports per country, with a transition period for legacy members through 2023 outlined in the Bylaws.

On WFDF Board membership, in the case that a Continental Association (CA) President is already a member of the Board in another function, the CA can send an alternate representative from their Board membership.

Other revisions change the name of the Entourage Commission to “Athletes’ Entourage Commission” as per IOC Terminology, change the name of the Youth in Sport Commission to “University, School Sport and Youth Commission,” and add the “WFDF Parasport Commission.” WFDF also established formally a “Sustainability and Legacy Commission” and formalised the Spirit of the Game (SOTG) Commission.

The revisions took effect immediately after the closing of the Congress.

President Robert “Nob” Rauch welcomed the 13 new National member federations added to WFDF since the first virtual Congress was held in August 2020. The strong support of the members for the WFDF leadership was also shown by several unanimous approvals of administrative matters like financials altogether with the 2020 audit and 2021 budget along with all the official reports of Committees and Commissions.

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Volker Bernardi

Secretary General

World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF)

Enggasse 2a, D - 55296 Harxheim, Germany

Mobile: +49 176 64 19 77 02

eMail: volker.bernardi@wfdf.sport

Web: www.wfdf.sport

About WFDF:  The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is the international sports federation responsible for world governance of flying disc (frisbee) sports, including Ultimate, Beach Ultimate, Disc Golf, Freestyle, Guts, and Individual Events. WFDF is a federation of 93 member associations, which represent flying disc sports and their athletes in more than 91 countries. WFDF is an International Federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and the International University Sports Federation (FISU), a member of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF), the International World Games Association (IWGA), the International Masters Games Association (IMGA), and the Association for the International Sport for All (TAFISA). WFDF is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code, and is a registered not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation in the state of Colorado, USA.

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