Founding Assembly Confirms New Home in Switzerland
On Saturday 2nd February 2019, the Founding Assembly was held in Vienna for the new Federation of International Racketlon (FIR) now based in 8001 Zurich, Switzerland.
31 different countries were either present or had officially declared in advance that they wished to become founding members of the new FIR. Other, new country members will be encouraged to join as the FIR actively goes out to grow Racketlon around the world.
Stability and Many Exciting Opportunities Ahead
FIR – Switzerland, under Swiss Law, allows for a more stable, long-term future for the FIR, as whatever nationalities fill the positions of the Council (including President) in the future, the FIR will be able to remain in Switzerland (which was not the case under Austrian law).
Switzerland is also the home to over 25 other international sport federations / associations as well as to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and to Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF – previously Sport Accord). It means that as Racketlon grows, it will be based in exactly the right place to help increase its credibility and to achieve the official recognition the sport deserves.
The minutes of this Founding Assembly can be downloaded here:
FIR – Switzerland Founding Assembly 2019
Racketlon ¾ & Racketlon Split
All the existing Council members, Rules and Statutes were transferred across to form the new FIR with no significant changes apart from two additions in the Statutes:
The first was a change which outlined the importance of the FIR’s role in co-ordinating Racketlon Split or Racketlon ¾ international tournaments to make sure that they did not conflict with the FIR World Tour.
I think that such a version of the sport (where only 3 of the 4 sports are played) could potentially be a very useful way to introduce more people to the sport of Racketlon, particularly at a local level (where Racketlon venues with all 4 sports are not always available).
However, I also feel very strongly that Racketlon Split / Racketlon ¾ played on an international level would be in direct conflict with the FIR and the FIR World Tour. Our sport is nowhere near big enough to have two different versions of the sport played on an international level and this is why it is vital that it’s the FIR which should carefully manage, control and co-ordinate this version of the sport internationally. This is now reflected in our FIR Statutes.
The second change was a clause that was added, under legal advice, which limited the liability of country members being part of the FIR.
Both changes were voted in by the Founding Assembly. The new FIR Statutes can be downloaded here: FIR Statutes 2019
Duncan Stahl / FIR Executive President
