“Where freedom of choice matters”
- November 2011 - FEKO INTERNATIONAL TO REJOIN WORLD UNION OF KARATE-DO ORGANISATIONS (WUKO)
To continue in the spirit of offering FEKO International and FMA members a wide range of opportunities, FEKO International will be rejoining WUKO.
- November 2011 - REFEREES PROMOTED
FEKO was represented at the WUKF European Championships 2011 in Italy by our Chief Referee accompanied by Azad Kumar, Stuart Forsyth and Alan White. In recognition of their superb work at WUKF events Robert and Azad were promoted to WUKF World Senior Referees with Stuart and Alan being promoted to WUKF Continental Judge status. Many congratulations to them.
- August 2011 - FEKO/FMA TRADEMARKS
The FEKO International, FEKO and FMA logos have been registered with the Patent Office.
Member associations may use these freely with their own logos on their web sites, stationery and advertising material whilst their association is in membership of FEKO.
For any other purpose approval must be sought from the FEKO Executive.
- September 2011 - MORE RECOGNITION FOR FEKO
CLOSE COMBAT AND HEAD MASTERS FEDERATION - HALL OF FAME AWARD
FEKO received a Golden Award for the Best Karate Organisation and entry into the Hall of Fame of the above organisation. This prestigious award was given at a presentation in Dubrovnik in September 2011.
- May 2011 - WORLD KOBUKAN FEDERATION WORLD MEDAL
This medal is presented to outstanding individuals for their distinguished service to the world of Budo.
This is the highest honour the World Kobukan Federation Kizuna has to offer and is a reflection of a lifetime of service in honour and unselfishness. The recipient embodies the best qualities of Budo. Their life is one of contribution and historic preservation of
the martial arts at a global level.
On 15 May 2011 our Chair, Alan Carruthers was presented with this award and again reflects the high esteem in which FEKO and in particular its Chair is held. (see http://www.worldkobukan.com/medal.html)
- April 2011 - FMA JOINS WORLD KOBUKAN FEDERATION
The World Kobukan Federation is a non political federation with a purpose of uniting martial artists of all styles. It is led by many legendary martial artists. Membership means that FEKO International and FMA members will have the opportunity to take advantage of courses and events across the spectrum of the martial arts.
Its web site is http://www.worldkobukan.com
Formation of the English Karate Council, 24/01/2012, Leicester
Four of England’s major Karate bodies held two meeting last October and December to discuss unification with all its inherent benefits. These benefits include: the creation of one Governing Body for Karate in England which will consolidate guidance on health and safety, child protection and Karate instruction/coaching. This new, unified body will also be in a strong position to apply to Sport England for recognition as the National Governing Body for Karate. This recognition would open the door to lottery and other funding for Karate at all levels.
The second meeting of 2011 was held at the offices of the Sport & Recreation Alliance (S&RA) in London, and chaired by its Chief Executive Tim Lamb. At that meeting a paper was discussed which proposed a new umbrella Governing Body which would bring together all the major groups in English Karate. This new body would allow the constituent Karate organisations to remain intact, licensing their own members and organising their own courses, gradings and competitions. The proposed structure was designed to facilitate the continuation of the WKF mandate through the EKF, whilst allowing the freedom for the other Groups to affiliate to other World Bodies. At the time it was assumed that the published WKF Statues would permit the EKF to participate in an umbrella Governing Body for English Karate.
Although the meeting ended without a final decision being reached, Tim Lamb felt that we were making great progress and suggested that a private meeting between the four groups should take place early in 2012; all four groups accepted his suggestion and a joint Press Release was agreed to this effect.
However the EKF have subsequently withdrawn from the process despite strenuous efforts to persuade them otherwise. This is because the EKF now consider that their participation in the new body would result in the withdrawal of the WKF mandate and this result was not acceptable to the EKF Board.
The remaining three groups; AMA, FEKO and KE therefore met on 24th January and have agreed to continue the process without the EKF, although the door is always open for them to rejoin at any time.
The groups decided the new body should be called the EKC - English Karate Council.
Further details will be circulated shortly.