Official statement by WFDF regarding its Director of Global Communications and New Media
22 July 2017
In light of recent posts and exchanges made on his personal twitter account by WFDF’s Director of Global Communications and New Media, Rob McLeod, on gender issues, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) would like to clarify our position on the topic and the personal comments that were made.
Gender Equity and Equality is a core value of our federation and sport and WFDF believes strongly in ensuring opportunities for girls and women are equal to that of boys and men both on and off the field. It is important for WFDF to make very clear that we do not agree with, nor endorse, the content of the tweets made by Rob McLeod over the past 48 hours. These comments were inappropriate and do not reflect WFDF’s values or stated priorities.
Rob has worked diligently for WFDF over the past year and his never ending effort and passion for and promotion of the sport of Flying Disc has been beneficial in many ways. Rob nonetheless has acknowledged that any social media comments expressed by any WFDF official, either on the official WFDF Social Media Channels or through use of their own private accounts, reflect directly on the perception of WFDF and what it stands for. He realizes that he can no longer be effective as a spokesperson for WFDF due to the loss of trust in his judgment and therefore has resigned from the position of WFDF Director of Global Communications effective immediately.
“Rob has made many valuable contributions to WFDF and the global disc sports community through his work over the last year for which we thank him but, notwithstanding that, we at WFDF cannot tolerate comments by a staff member that conflict so jarringly with one of our core values, whether inadvertent or not,” stated Robert “Nob” Rauch, WFDF President. “Especially on this first day of The World Games, where we feature mixed gender Ultimate comprised of teams with athlete rosters with equal numbers of men and women, such comments are discordant with our innate beliefs. At our most recent board meeting we had approved the new membership of the WFDF Women in Sport Commission and we will task them with a complete review of this situation to see what more we should be doing both inside our organization and throughout the community to do a better job on this.”
Regarding the issue of commentating on the television and livestream broadcasts, which precipitated the discussion, we must note that WFDF only has limited input into the structure of the event, as this is a multi-sports event that is not run by WFDF. The Olympic Channel is handling all the broadcasting, and decided that all commentating would be done in their headquarters in Madrid. We had decided to put together a team with Tom Styles, who has significant experience with WFDF and UK Ultimate events, to commentate from the studio in Madrid. For local color coverage and interviews in Wroclaw, we selected Caroline “Caz” Malone, a WFDF board member and professional broadcast journalist, to lead the team at the venue. After the discussion yesterday, we got the approval to bring in a second commentator to the studio. Hannah Pendlebury, a British Ultimate player and organizer and writer with commentary experience in Basketball, Cricket, and Ultimate, will join Tom for the broadcasting on the final two days of action this Saturday and Sunday.
Latest WFDF Communiques
01 December 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation ("WFDF") is pleased to announce that it has launched today a new official website and domain name "wfdf.sport." The web site revamp was undertaken to upgrade the underlying site architecture, from the last overhaul in late 2011, to current standards, including native mobile accessibility. WFDF signed an agreement in 2018 to use the dot sport internet domain, which is managed by the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) for ICANN, as use of the dot sport domain shows we are a recognized member of the international sports community.
09 November 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that WFDF has joined the UNAOC One Humanity Campaign, which calls for solidarity, compassion and unity in the face of discrimination and divisiveness. The International Federations which sign up to the initiative have pledged their commitment to the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) campaign. The campaign will see signatory sports champion One Humanity by demonstrating their commitment to peaceful and inclusive societies through a range of initiatives and projects that will be featured on a dedicated online platform in future to increase the visibility of this important campaign.
30 October 2020 - Official Communication
Planning to resume global Flying Disc events starting in July 2021
Following the March 24 announcement by the World Flying Disc Federation that all Flying Disc championships in 2020 were cancelled or postponed due to the rapid spread COVID-19 virus and effect of the pandemic on international travel, WFDF has been pushing forward with negotiations, plans, and preparations for a full calendar of events for 2021.
As of today, WFDF is planning to hold its World Under-24 Ultimate Championships (3-10 July, Limerick, IRL), World Ultimate and Guts Championships (24-31 July, Leeuwarden, NED), World Overall Championships (July, USA), and World Beach Ultimate Championships (November, USA). The World Team Disc Golf Championships (Croatia) will be postponed to August 2022 and World Masters Ultimate championships (Gold Coast, AUS), which was initially announced to be postponed to September 2021, has been cancelled.
21 October 2020 - Official Communication
WFDF seeks interest from juniors (Under 18) to participate in the UTS Virtual Youth Festival 2020
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is proud to announce that we have been invited to participate in the United Through Sports (UTS) Virtual Youth Festival (VYF) 2020. This event is a unique opportunity for the WFDF juniors athletes to be involved in a United through Sport movement that promotes health and safety through competition of an online festival. WFDF is seeking interest from juniors (Under 18) who wish to participate.
The Festival will be hosted on a digital platform, and youth participants will need a recording device (such as a mobile phone) and access to the internet to participate during the finals on the 20-22 November 2020. Participants will need to upload their video to participate. The Festival finals coincide with the United Nations’ World Children’s Day.
02 October 2020 - Official Communication
Overview
WFDF is seeking enthusiastic, skilled and committed candidates for its 2020 Elections. Complete nominations must be received by the Nominating Committee by October 28, 2020. The target date for the start of the elections is between November 1 and November 15, 2020, with a targeted end date of no later than December 15, 2020. Results should be announced by December 31, 2020 subject to confirmation of acceptance by elected candidates. The following positions are open for election for two-year terms commencing on January 1, 2021 and concluding December 31, 2022:
Board of Directors
· President (2 year term)
· Secretary (2 year term)
· Disc Golf chair (2 year term)
· Overall Committee Chair (2 year term)
· Guts Chair (2 year term)
· Beach Ultimate Chair (2 year term)
Continental President, Africa (to be elected by Continental Association)
Continental President, Europe (to be elected by Continental Association)
01 October 2020 - Official Communication
Strengthens its commitment to equity and equality in all aspects
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved a WFDF Non-Discrimination Policy during their Board meeting on 20 September 2020.
Among its various provisions, the policy:
· affirms that WFDF is “fully committed to the principles and practice of equality of opportunity. It is responsible for ensuring that all people, irrespective of race or ethnic origin, culture, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, socio-economic status, and physical attributes, have a genuine and equal opportunity to participate in Flying Disc at all levels and in all roles;”
· states that WFDF ”and its members, have an ethical, moral and business responsibility to take stock of their current position and plan for the inclusion of a wider range of participants;” and
· establishes that this “policy has been produced to prevent/tackle any potential/current discrimination or other unfair treatment, whether intentional or unintentional, direct or indirect, against its employees, members, participants and volunteers.”
28 September 2020 - Official Communication
Introduces structures on safeguarding athletes from all forms of misconduct
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved of the new WFDF Safe Sport Policy during its meeting on 20 September 2020. WFDF’s policy on safeguarding athletes and participants from discrimination, harassment and abuse shall describe the processes to help prevent this from occurring and define the procedures available to WFDF participants to bring forward a complaint related to a WFDF Event. It will also describe the consequences of a breach of this policy, including interim measures and specific sanctions. It consists of two parts: a Safe Sport Policy for WFDF events and WFDF Personnel (Part 1) and Guidelines for member National Federations on developing a policy for safeguarding participants from misconduct (Part 2).
25 September 2020 - Official Communication
Brings WFDF membership to 88 Countries
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that its Congress has approved the Federación de Disco Volador de Nicaragua (FEDIVONIC) as its newest member national federation, increasing WFDF’s membership to 88 national member federations (NFs).
“It is a great pleasure to see organised Flying Disc sport development success in Central America with a growth of our family during these times. This is another example of the success of the WFDF Development grants program, as we provided a grant in 2017 to Nicaragua which catalyzed their development,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “We are looking forward to welcoming more members from Central America and Africa very soon.”
24 August 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is proud to announce that WFDF has published the WFDF Gender Equity Toolkit in its first edition. The WFDF Gender Equity Toolkit was commissioned by the WFDF Women in Sport Commission and funded by the WFDF Development Program supported by IOC funding. Alicia Lui was lead author for the project.
“Gender equity - the process of giving fair treatment to all individuals based on their needs, interests, experiences, irrespective of gender - is crucial to ensure everyone can participate and enjoy Disc Sports fully around the world,” stated WFDF Women in Sport Commission chair Caroline “Caz” Malone. “The WFDF Tournament Directors Toolkit (“TDT”) provides Tournament Organizing Committees (“TOCs”) with information about gender equity, along with practical ideas to stage events that are more gender equitable. There are also strategies that everyone in the community can use to achieve better gender balance, as well as handy checklists, and a quiz at the end.”
07 August 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that WFDF will be featured on TAFISA’s Social Media channels in the frame of the TAFISA Family Day. With more than 270 members from over 150 countries on all continents, TAFISA aims to achieve an “active world’ by globally promoting and facilitating access for every person to Sport for All and physical activity.
An online campaign, the TAFISA Family Day celebrates the members’ commitment for a better world. TAFISA Family Day is a great opportunity for the members to share their efforts in combatting physical inactivity through Sport for All and increase awareness within TAFISA Family and the global Sport for All Movement.
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