What is happening to British Taekwondo.

By Chris Davies 6th Dan Kukkiwon Certified 

What state is Taekwondo in the UK in, is it stable or is the paint just hiding the rot? 

There are some serious concerns that I and others have about the way things are going which has serious implications, and I cannot sit quietly and without publicly raising the issues.  

Looking at the sports council recognised NGB which encompasses ITF and WTF one would think that many old rivalries were dead and gone, but from what I have seen and been told, this could not be further from the truth.   In this article I will present some indisputable evidence and some non provable information which has been relayed to me verbally from various reliable sources.  

Before the BTC most Taekwondo groups operated on an individual basis all vying for power and numbers with little co-operation between them.   Some ITF style groups then formed the BTC and managed to get Sports Council recognition, on the other side of the coin the BTCB had the mandate from the WTF and British Olympic Committee (BOA)to send fighters to official WTF events.   Neither group had much time for each other and funding was not available for Olympic athletes unless they were part of the same group, from what I have been told the BTC and BTCB came together reluctantly under an agreement known as the MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) which I will discuss in the next paragraph.  

At around the same time (before the signing of the MOA) other WTF Style groups had joined the BTC and therefore by anyone's understanding under their own pre MOA agreements.   Lets go through some of the points in the MOA that is also seen in this article. 

1. The initial heading shows the agreement is between the BTC and the BTCB and was supposed to cover the regulation of WTF Taekwondo within the BTC.   Now this wording 'regulation and control of WTF Taekwondo' can cause confusion but by my understanding it means control of the players that are send to official WTF sanctioned events.   I dont think this relates to style because a person can practice a style without having to be a member of a certain group.  If style was what they meant it would in effect practically outlaw practicing the style in the BTC outside of the BTCB and I believe it would infringe competition laws. I would ask if all the ITF groups are also subject to joining a single ITF group, if not why not?  

2. You will also note that the position of WTF Liason officer has been created on the BTC board which is to be filled by a BTCB representative which then gives the BTCB 2 votes on the BTC board.   From information I have received it would appear that political rivalry is still quite rife within the BTC and I was told that recently the BTCB used their extra vote to ensure that the power balance did not go in the direction they did not want.   Due to this I believe that some member groups of the BTC have challenged the validity of the MOA in allowing the BTCB to have 2 votes.  I know that these types of tactics are common in political practices but the aspect I want to emphasise here is that the MOA has been challenged by one or some of the member groups.  

3. Based on the MOA the BTC has now requested that all other member WTF style groups become part of the BTCB or be expelled from the BTC. Now for ITF style groups this would be something of a victory by eliminating more WTF votes, the BTCB would itself have a victory by taking control of all the other WTF style groups.   Again from what I have been told the groups that this affects are receiving little support in their challenge on the validity of the MOA as it was signed after they joined the BTC and without their agreement. Here then I feel there is a set of double standards where groups choose to challenge the MOA but only on the points that affects the individual group.   If you challenge the validity of MOA then it is the whole MOA not just a section of it, it is either valid or invalid. The document is clearly unfair and is a an obvious attempt to restrict competition of WTF style groups outside of the BTCB.  

Over the past months I have become increasingly aware of the way the BTCB is trying to force their view on others and create a state of apartheid between themselves and other WTF style groups.   An email was recently sent by the BTCB to a group that had within its ranks both ITF and WTF stylists, they were asked to remove the reference to WTF for certain groups. Below are some sections of that email.  

"The name and logo of the WTF are trade-marked. On 15th December 2005, the WTF wrote to all Member National Federations to emphasise that only they (the MNFs) could use the name and logo of the WTF. In the UK, this means that only BTCB members can claim to practise WTF taekwondo. Even if non-members emulate the WTF style of taekwondo, they are not allowed to refer to it as WTF or even 'WTF-style'  taekwondo. Non-members may not use the WTF logo." 

"The WTF requires the BTCB to "protect the exclusivity of the use of the emblem and other intellectual properties of the WTF". In practice, this means that any clubs that claim to be WTF, but are not BTCB members, will be reported to the nearest Trading Standards Office."  

"Please note that possession of Kukkiwon dan certificates or instructor qualifications are irrelevant here. Many instructors falsely claim to be directly affiliated to or recognised by the WTF or the Kukkiwon. The only valid criterion for being a WTF taekwondo club in the United Kingdom is membership of the BTCB."  

This directive has been taken totally out of contect and the BTCB are trying to use it as a stick to beat others over the head with to try to force them in to BTCB membership.   They are correct that only WTF affiliated groups may use the WTF logo to promote themselves, but they are completely wrong when they say that you cannot make reference to the WTF style.   Legal advisors have already said that in Europe and the UK there are no intellectual rights on sport, let's be real here could you stop people using the word Football or Soccer?  

If you actually look at what the WTF is you will see that in Korea they have little power other than for the competition aspect.   The Kukkiwon deals with standards and grade qualification which is the body recognised by the WTF, so the irony of what the BTCB are trying to say is that despite having a Kukkiwon qualification for standards, style and grade which is recognised by the WTF, in the UK it is invalid and you may not refer to the WTF unless you join the BTCB.   This is nothing more than drivel from the BTCB as having a Kukkiwon certificate automatically qualifies you as a WTF stylist (I know it is also referred to as Kukki style). In this email there was a section that refers to abuse, "the claim to be 'WTF' is not abused by others"   are we sure it is not the BTCB that is doing the abusing? 

In another email the BTCB tried to block an open WTF style tournament which was being hosted by a BTCB club. 

"Your event is to be held under WTF rules. No-one outside the BTCB practises WTF taekwondo and should not be eligible to enter such an event. A few non-BTCB groups emulate WTF-style taekwondo but they cannot legitimately claim to do this style".  

"Only the BTCB has referees properly qualified in WTF rules (especially the latest rules). Failure to use properly qualified referees would invalidate your insurance. It is therefore not acceptable to use non-BTCB referees for a competition held under WTF rules."  

In an email from the BTCB to another instructor it was stated: 

"In the UK, 'WTF taekwondo' means the BTCB: anything else is ITF or 'independent': any club outside the BTCB does not do WTF taekwondo and should not be allowed to participate in WTF style competitions."  

This without doubt goes to show that the BTCB are trying to ensure all WTF style competitions to be the exclusive property of the BTCB.   Although I don't remember hearing about the BTCB protesting to the TAGB when their Taekwondo International group hosted a WTF section in their competition. The section referring to the insurance is total nonsense as I have a copy of a policy and there is no mention of BTCB sanctioned referees. Furthermore there is no restriction in the Policy that having a second insurance is not permitted, I have had this clarified and the only restriction is that you cannot claim on more than one policy for an instance.  

Let us now assume that the BTC WTF stylists chose to join the BTCB, what other issues could cause problems? 

Well the Kukkiwon issue could cause some real headaches for quite a number of people as the BTCB have written into their regulations that it is a requirement for those wishing to conduct kup gradings to be a minimum 4th Dan Kukkiwon which is a bit rich when from them when for years they insisted that Kukkiwon certificates were not required. They helped propagate a whole host of instructors without their full range of Kukkiwon certificates and some have never bothered to get them once they missed a few of them.   What happens to instructors who have other certificates and who currently conduct their own gradings?  They would find themselves having to pay Kukkiwon qualified people to conduct their gradings for them.   Do all the current BTCB dan grades have all their Kukkiwon certificates or have amnesties been given to some? 

Looking at the structure of the BTCB it is not hard to notice that the majority of members are group members (Not full members), I read this to be that the majority of members are not really interested in the BTCB but only join to get access to certain competitions.   What a statement of faith (or lack of it) that is for the BTCB.  I have also heard that to be allowed to vote in the BTCB you have to have been in membership for 5 years, if this is the case then it is ridiculous as a person from overseas could be nationalised in less time.  

I am not saying that the BTCB should not exist nor should it try to expand its ranks, what I am saying is that the BTCB have become control freaks with total disregard for others.   They should concern themselves with official National level and international competitions and not insist that they have the exclusive rights of style, standards, competitions and recognition.   Their methods serve only to propogate resentment and hostilities which is not conducive to promoting WTF style Taekwondo or membership of the BTCB which in turn restricts the number of possible quality players available to represent the UK.  

Taekwondo and Korean Martial Arts Magazine editors notes added to published article:

A approached Mr Adrian Tranter (Chairman - BTCB) who said " I have seen the e-mail and I do not want to comment".

I also asked Mr Dave Oliver for his opinion - he replied, "I think it speaks for itself, the article that is".