This is from back on April 20th..

Anyone with DBC care to explain the ramifications of this? I know the IDBF has tried before to apply for membership in the past.

From the ICF Website:

The 39th General Assembly of the General Association of International Sports Federations today in Berlin has rejected the application of the International Dragonboat Federation (IDBF) for GAISF membership. Only 22 delegates from 72 voted in favor of IDBF.

The application for GAISF membership of IDBF thereby was rejected. ICF had objected to that application as Dragonboat Racing is considered to be a discipline of Canoeing and therefore the competence of the ICF.

"The overwhelming majority of the GAISF General Assembly being the highest authority of that organisation thus has finished the discussions and confirmed that Dragonboat Racing is a discipline of Canoeing", stated Ulrich Feldhoff, ICF President, after the decision in Berlin.

The application has nothing to do with the ICF governing or not governing dragon boat. GAISF rejected all applicants this year in order to review its bylaws pertaining to new member applications. GAISF does not recognize the ICF has anything to do with dragon boat. Feldoff likes to shoot his mouth off. IDBF is still the governing body internationally. In Canada this may mean that DBC may not persue any sort of relationship with Sport Canada. They would not get funding anyhow so it really is moot anyhow. So, in a nutshell, it's much adoo about nothing.

But to hear about this vote from the "Exec President for Life" Mr. Haslam - the vote represented a conspiracy of the old boys club that runs all the way to the Olympics.

I hear that the premier teams are so pissed off they can't participate in the CCWC in Welland and that they have no funding for Berlin after paying thousands of dollars to win the entry that they are going to actively campaign on behalf of the ICF and CCA to be the governing body of dragon boat. At least the 40 grand from the Berlin race off would be going to support the athletes if CCA ran the show instead of some private business interest.

Shouldn't be a difficult fight since GAISF rejected the IDBF.....

What premier teams are upset and why. Also,how come teams or individuals didn't incorporate a fund raising strategy to assist them in going to Berlin.If you don't have the $$$, why waste your time trying out to represent Canada.

This is a rich man's sport. It always has been.If you don't have the bucks, step aside.

Ok, Thurston, oops, I mean Orst, see you on the starting line...

The DBC premier team is not owned by a group of athletes. If some of the paddlers want to race at an ICF championship then I say go ahead. Have a good time. There's lots of athletes ready, willing and able to fill your seats at IDBF 2007 worlds in Sydney thank you very much. And if you think there's any chance CCA or a CCA dragon boat event will ever be able to fund a dragon boat team's air and hotel, think again.

DBC premier team?? Considering that DBC doesn't support the premier team in any financial way, you can hardly call them that. In that sense, I guess the team is kind of owned by the athletes. Anwyay, why would you want to send a bunch of seat-fillers to worlds in Oz...(although that'll probably be the only way dbc will pony up some cash...)

As long as DBC is the national association they own all the sanctioning rights to send teams to Worlds and Club Worlds. That's why they organize race offs. I think DBC does allot of work behind the scenes and the athletes also work very hard to represent Canada. They need to respect each others efforts. I'm sure if DBC had any money they'd try and assist the team. What they need to learn to do is not give away their assets like the regional or national championship events. Their too valuable to simply hand off to for profits.

The last comment was perhaps more insightful than any put forward