CONGRESS  REPORT,    2009

The Twif Annual Congress for 2009 took place at the beautiful city of Pretoria, South Africa.

The official proceedings began on Friday morning, 1 May, when the Executive met with delegates from Asia.  This was an opportunity to discuss matters of common interest such as the Asian Championships, Judges courses and other ways that Asia could play a full part in the affairs of TWIF and vice versa.

This was followed by a discussion about how the 50 anniversary of TWIF in 2010 might be celebrated.  It is intended that both the indoor and outdoor championships in Italy and South Africa respectively should contain some events to mark this important milestone.  It is hoped to mount a display of photographs and other memorabilia covering those 50 years and the possibility of producing an anniversary booklet will be pursued.  This would include articles covering significant events in our history and some of the people who played a major role in bringing us to our present position.  It was stressed that all of this can only be achieved with the full co-operation and  input from the relevant representatives.

On Friday afternoon delegates paid a visit  to the University of Pretoria which will be the venue for the 2010 World Outdoor Championships.  The competition will take place on the rugby field, as it did in 2002.  There was also the opportunity to visit and inspect some of the hotel accommodation  which will be available at that time.

The Congress proper got under way on Saturday morning with 16 countries in attendance.   A minutes silence was observed in memory of those members of the TWIF “family” who had  passed on during the past year.

The following is a brief summary of the business that took place;

(1)       The Secretary General reported on the Sportaccord Conference which he had attended in Colorado in March.   He met with representatives from GAISF, ARISF, World Games and the IOC, four of the major organisations in world sport.  It was an ideal opportunity to network with other sports and raise our profile at such an important gathering.

(2)       Various proposals had been submitted by several countries, summarised as follows;  

(a)       An Athletes Commission was established with the following membership;

M/s Kristina Gorannson, Sweden,  representing Europe.

Mr. Gideon Viljoen,  South Africa, Representing Africa.

Mrs  Shelby Richardson, USA,  representing North America.

Mr. Mitsumasa Okada,  Japan,  representing Asia.

The Commission will be chaired by the Vice President of TWIF, Mr. Patrick van den Heuvel of Belgium.

(b)      The proposal re. weight classes was amended with the following result;

World Championships.

Senior Men.

Outdoor-------580K, 640K,  700K.

Indoor---------560K, 600K,  640K,  680K

Senior Women

Outdoor and Indoor.--------- 500K,  540K.

Men (under 23) -----------     600K.      Women (under 23) -----500K.

Junior (Men) -------------------560K.        Junior (women)  --------480K.  

Senior Mixed ( four men and four women) --------- 600K.

European Championships. ( As above except as follows;)

Senior Men.

560K, 640k, 680K, 720K.

Senior Women.

520K, 560K.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE 2009 EUROPEANS IN NETHERLANDS WILL DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE ABOVE, THE CONTRACT HAVING ALREADY BEEN SIGNED  (SEN. MENS 600K INCLUDED INSTEAD OF 560K)

(c)       the substitution rule has been slightly amended to require both pullers involved to report, with accreditation cards, to the judge in charge of the match before going to the scales.

(d)      the award of a maximum of one friendly caution in any one pull has now been formalised    within the powers of the judge.

(e)       the wording and diagram of the outdoor boot within the Rules Manual will be amended to reflect present day outdoor footwear.

(f)       the proposals to “cap” the price of accommodation packages at 400 Euros and to reduce the championship permit fee by 50% both failed.

(g)      the use of magnesium chalk at TWIF Indoor Championships will continue to be allowed.

(h)      the proposal to abolish team weight and the toss of a coin when determining ranking, to be replaced by pull-offs, was defeated.

(i)        the proposal to reduce the age in senior womens competition to 16 years was passed.

(j)        the proposal to organise separate world championships for boys and girls under 18 failed.

(k)      the proposal to have separate Vice Presidents on the TWIF Executive for each of the world’s regions failed to get approval.

         Presentations were given by the representatives of Netherlands, Italy, South Africa and     England, all of whom will be hosting championships in the coming years.  The more imminent ones will have websites open in the very near future.

The European regional Championships of 2013 are still open for tender, as are the Indoor Championships for 2014.  The 2014 Outdoors were awarded to the USA and will be held in the city of Madison, Wisconsin.

Cathal McKeever.