EAF CONGRESS MEETING 28/6/00 GDYNIA POLAND

Meeting opened 15.45

Countries represented:            Austria             France              Russia

  Belgium            Finland            Sweden

                                                  Bulgaria            Germany          Ukraine

                                                  Czech               Norway

                                                  England            Poland

 Mr. Akhmedshin opened the meeting welcomed everybody to Poland, he also nominated Kim Shoesmith to be the secretary of this Congress Meeting to take the minutes of the meeting. This was voted on by the members all were in favor.

 Mr. Akhmedshin

I have a draft agenda does anybody have any other agenda’s to propose. Nobody else had any alternative agenda’s.

Vote Taken to accept draft agenda                        All in favor

 Thank you to Igor Mazurenko of Poland for putting on the competition at such short notice.

 Mr. Mazurenko Poland

Thanked everybody for attending and stated that they would do their best to put on a good championships but they do not have any experience with a big competition and will be grateful for any help that the EAF can offer.

 Mr. Akhmedshin

It was discussed about Poland and Ukraine being accepted as a member of EAF, this was proposed by England, Norway and Finland.

Vote Taken to accept Poland             All in favor

 Mr. Deneumostier introduced the delegates present from each country and their position on their Federation, he explained to the members that Mr. Akhmedshin was no longer the President of the Russian Federation as he had already held this position for 2 terms and in their constitution a President can only stay for 2 terms. He was pleased to announce that Alexandre Filimonov was the new President of the Russian Federation.

 President’s Report – Igor Akhmedshin

Thank you again to Mr. Mazurenko for stepping in at such short notice and hosting the championships due to the difficulties with Belarus and the Czech Republic pulling out.

Thanks to all those who organized competitions last year eg; Norway, Sweden, Finland and all the others. Thanks to David Shead who has attended many of these competitions. During this competition I would like everybody to write a calendar of competitions for next year.

 We need to think of Armsport as a kind of Olympic sport there are 2 important points firstly the Rules these should be as Olympic Rules, secondly the weight categories, presently we have 33 weight categories. We should look at having eight weight categories; I would like to thank Mr. Filimonov for all of his work on the Biathlon idea, as it is very important.

EAF CONGRESS MEETING 26/6/00 Gdynia Poland

 President’s Report (Con’t)

Thanks also to Mr. Deneumostier for all his work on Public Relation as it is very important to spread the sport over the world. I hope in the near future together we can put more information on the web page and internet. I hope that Asen Hadjitodorov will be able to get a newspaper published. It is important to have information on armsport for new members joining us and to have the details of competitions and competitors. We all hope that in Finland there will be many countries we would like to have in excess of 25 countries and over 250 competitors. I am aware that last month there was a competition in Turkey during which some competitors from Europe went we appreciate it if any other countries join us and we do not want to shut the door to anyone we are open. Once again I appreciate all the hard work which has gone into this competition.

 General Secretary’s Report – Sonia Ellis

Miss Ellis introduced herself to the new members and welcomed everybody to Poland to what she believed would be a good championship. Miss Ellis explained there had been difficulties in contacting her but this had been resolved and she would give everybody her new details before they left Poland. She asked all the members to send information to herself and to Mr. Deneumostier as we do have a website and that work would be carried out on the website very soon which should help to draw more countries into our sport.

 Head Referee’s Report – David Shead

Constant problem within the EAF is the lack of referees. In the last 6 years the EAF has grown, but not the number of referees. Not enough countries are sending referees or encouraging referees to attend the competitions. The EAF is doing everything it can to help this situation, where possible the referees will get accommodation and food supplied. We need more recognition for the referees for the hard work that they do.

(Neil Pickup – England, need to get a sponsor to cover referees expenses. We must try to attract attention just for referees.) This must be done through the correct channels but is a good idea. I am happy to travel to any member’s country, to train their referees at Internationals or Nationals. We are unable to go to the IOC, until we have enough referees. The only way to do this is if everyone makes an effort, I am available to help you with regards to referees. Thank you all for coming to this Championship.

 (Igor Mazurenko – Poland, if you want to be a referee for a Championships, what do you need to do? Mr. Deneumostier – Belgium, David Shead is the Head Referee of WAF/EAF. He is the person who knows the rules, does the training and deals with everything about refereeing. All matters to do with refereeing are his responsibility.)

 Financial Director’s Report – Asen Hadgitodorov

Income $12146.00

Expenditure $6180.00

Balance $5966.00

Proposal from countries to pay $500.00 to hold the EAF Championships. Each country nominated to hold the EAF Championships must pay $500.00 license fee. This must be paid no later than 1 month after the license has been granted, or else they loose the right to hold the EAF Championships. This shows they are serious. If a country does not pay within the month, maybe they have problems, then the next country’s proposal can be accepted, and they still have 11 months to organize the Championships. (Cont’d)

EAF CONGRESS MEETING 28/06/00 GDYNIA POLAND

 Financial Director’s Report continued.

Proposal

If a country would like to bid for a EAF Championships they must send a cheque for $500.00 to the Financial Director before the EAF Congress meeting. This is security for their bid. These bids are then voted on in the Congress and one bid accepted to host the Championships. All unsuccessful bids will be returned with the submitted $500.00 license fee and held as reserves. To start 2001.

Proposed, seconded by Finland and England

Vote Taken to accept proposal                                                          All in favor

We must show sponsors our sport and show them that their money is well spent. Therefore, your sponsors need to know that we have a business club.

 Election of Vice President

At present there is no Vice President. This is a very important role. During the Executive Committee’s meeting it was discussed about the best person for this job would be Asen Hadgitodorov. Are there any other candidates to be proposed Norway propose Hari Naskali from Finland seconded by Sweden.

Mr. Deneumostier pointed out that in the EAF Statures it states that we have a Vice President who was of course Mr. Milan Capla but he has gone away. So it is important to have a Vice President so that if Igor Akhmedshin is unable to attend then his deputy can attend.

 David Shead                 I have had the pleasure of working with both Asen and Hari and as there are only 4 people on the Executive Committee so it would be good to have 5.

 Vote to accept proposed by Belgium, seconded by Russia 

For Asen Hadgitodorov            9

For Hari Naskali                       4

This is only until next year 2001 the interim period. Congratulations to Asen.

 Approved Draft Calendar

EAF Championships 2001-Sweden. The General Secretary will send them a contract and the requirements and they have an AGM in one month when they will be able to confirm.

Vote taken                  All in favor

 There is a proposal for 2002 EAF Championships from Austria from Carl Smith (we will send him the minutes of the meeting)

Vote taken                  All in favor

 Apologies for absence were sent by Germany, Austria and France.

Mr. Deneumostier read letters from the above countries.

 There is a proposal for 2003 EAF Championships from England all details and requirements to be sent.

 Finland handed out invitations to 2000 Worlds with all information you need to know. If there are any questions please ask Hari Naskali. We are expecting many countries and competitors to attend.

 EAF CONGRESS MEETING 28/06/00 GDYNIA POLAND

 David Shead – For the past 2 years I have been going to the Powerball International Competition which has been well organized, with excellent hospitality, transport and accommodation. There are no security problems and I know many of our members are taking big teams. We already expect over 200 competitors just from Europe.

 5 Minute break.

 6pm meeting continued.

 3^rd Junior World Championships 2000

Finland is unable to accommodate this Championships as the hall can only be rented for 3 days; therefore there is not enough time. Mr. Deneumostier can hold this Championships in Belgium, on the 27/07/00, before the Belgium Cup. All members should take a referee to this competition, which will be a Worlds and International. Mr. Deneumostier must have accurate information, if you book 20 rooms you must pay for 20 rooms even if only 10 are used. Cheap accommodation will be made available to juniors, and referee’s accommodation will be paid for by Mr. Deneumostier.

 EAF Proposal – For New Biathlon System – Alexandre Filimonov

All members have information on this new system. The proposal might help us to join IOC. We have too many weight classes, 20 in total. The reason for this new proposal is so that we can have harmonic bodybuilding, if only the right arm is used the body is not harmonic. We do not want children to have any problems. In Russia we are proposing to use this system at every Championships. We propose that this system is to be used in every country as the main system. If anyone would like to add to this proposal, we can discuss it in Finland. Please send any information or suggestions in to the General Secretary. (Neil Pickup – England, We can appreciate this point about physical development of juniors, and there is some scope to use this system for them, but I think we need to discuss many points that could be detrimental to the seniors. For example this could eliminate armwrestlers with injury or disability in one arm, this system could stop them competing. Many armwrestlers are better in  one arm than the other, and maybe discouraged by this system. Armwrestling is not only related to strength, but also involves technique and many specialize in one arm. This could lead to a massive loss of competitors on a global scale. We must be careful and decide how to use this system step by step. Our long-term aim of getting into the Olympics, where only the elite will compete, must not blinker us with regards to the EAF and WAF Championships. Maybe a solution is to use the biathlon system only for the Olympics and not for EAF and WAF Championships.) (David Shead – Head Referee, This is an interesting system, but our major problem is having 2 federations so we can not go to the Olympics. We must postpone any major changes until we are united. Then we can look towards to this new system. We must wait until then.)

 Ukraine

We must think about what the IOC require with regards to weight classes.

 Poland

We use this system already and it has increased the number of competitors in each weight class. It does not spread the armwrestlers so thinly across the weight classes. Although we may lose some competitors, we will have new ones coming in to the sport.

 EAF CONGRESS MEETING 28/06/00 GDYNIA POLAND

 Mr. Deneumostier – We must find a solution for this proposal when we have verification, this is a very important decision to take. We should wait maybe 2 to 3 years and then we will have over 30 countries in EAF and it will be a strong decision. I think such a big change is too important for just 10 countries. It was suggested that we use this system for the juniors in 2001. It was also suggested that we wait for more countries to be present.

Vote taken to accept this system or to wait                                         For decision            4

                                                                                                            Against           9

 EAF Organization of Competitions – David Shead

A few years ago we had the Champion of 5 Nations which was the only International in Europe that year. We have gradually grown from 5 to 6 Championships a year, to the level we reached last year having had 24 or more Internationals. I do not believe any of them had official licenses from EAF/WAF. Consequently, we had too many competitions, sometimes 2 on the same weekend, or only a week between them. This has clearly affected the attendance levels at these competitions and as the Competitions are not run officially, they are at different levels of efficiency. We must have some regulation to restrict the number of Internationals in Europe. We must also have regulations to stipulate that Internationals must have trained officials to a certain level to run them. My proposal is to limit to 10 competitions per year plus the EAF and WAF Championships. These 10 competitions will be large established Internationals. The executive committee will decide A and B category competitions accordingly. This discussion must be discussed in more detail in Finland.

Vote taken to postpone this discussion until Finland                All in favor

 Mr. Deneumostier discussed the problems in Italy and hopefully they will come to Finland. The situation with the GAISF is very important. For 20 years Mr. Das has said that we have been applying for membership – this is a lie as I have meet with the Vice President, and they had never heard of WAF and that they do not want to hear about us until we are united as one body. We must try to unify, if they do not want to join us, we must try to encourage them.

 I would ask that all competitors come to the table in their team uniforms, that Winners go to the official table and that all competitors respect the referees.

 Mr. Deneumostier proposes that in 2002 we use the Euro instead of US dollars as we are in the EEC.

Vote taken, forwarded by Belgium, seconded by Finland            For                  12

                                                                                                            Against           None

                                                                                                            Abstain          1

Small discussion about transportation costs to the competition and the banquet, and the possibility of taking out the ladies 45kg class and replacing it with a 65kg class. It was decided that this must be taken to the WAF Congress.

Vote taken to discuss in Finland                                                            For                  10

                                                                                                            Against           1

                                                                                                            Abstain          2

 END OF MEETING

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