PDGA terminates membership, WFDF Reorganizes DGC

In Disc Golf, Official Communication, Press Release * Official Communication, Sports by WFDF

[lead]WFDF to reorganize its Disc Golf Committee after PDGA terminates its membership[/lead]

World Team Disc Golf Championship co-hosted by WFDF and PDGA will still be hosted in August 2016

The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) announces that it is going to reorganize its Disc Golf Committee after the Professional Disc Golf Association (“PDGA”) gave notice it was officially terminating the Memorandum of Understanding previously signed on 27 January 2014 and not renewing its membership in WFDF, effective 29 January 2016.  WFDF is in the process of reconstituting the WFDF Disc Golf Committee, which had been a joint committee designated by the PDGA, into one comprised of representatives of WFDF country members who oversee a multi-disciplinary association in order to properly manage disc golf activity within the context of WFDF’s Olympic Movement responsibilities.

Importantly, both WFDF and PDGA have reaffirmed their commitment to the World Team Disc Golf Championship which will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on 18-21 August 2016. A dozen or more teams are expected from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, New Zealand, the USA and others.  The four person teams will be comprised of two open, one woman, and one masters age (over 40) athlete, in this inaugural team World Championship competition being co-hosted by WFDF and the PDGA.

“On behalf of the whole board, I am disappointed that PDGA has chosen to terminate our formal relationship.  Both our organizations remain committed to supporting the international growth and development of disc golf.  However, while WFDF needs to move forward with a new governance structure for disc golf within the WFDF structure without an official relationship with PDGA, we have assured them that we do not see ourselves competing in any way with PDGA and in fact will seek to maintain and strengthen the dialogue going forward.”

“We are fully committed to fulfill our official responsibility to represent Disc Golf as a Flying Disc sport within the Olympic Movement and in particular towards the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and the International World Games Association (IWGA),” Rauch continued. “Given the experience of sports like snowboarding, first introduced to the Olympics in 1998 under the International Ski Federation (FIS), or skateboarding, in the dialogue for the 2020 Games under the International Roller Skating Federation’s (FIRS), we believe it is important to start getting disc golf into the discussion so that we can build the track record for future consideration.”

WFDF has received PDGA’s agreement that it will continue to apply the PDGA disc approval process so as to ensure consistency of sports equipment throughout the world and sport. Separately, Michael Downes, PDGA Event Manager, who has served as the WFDF Disc Golf Chairman and WFDF board member, will resign effective 29 February 2016 with his replacement to be named shortly by the board.

PDGA was a charter member of WFDF when it was founded in 1985 and had renewed its membership in January 2014 for two years before terminating its Memorandum of Understanding.