Budo international Martial Arts Magazine Jul.-Aug. 2014 | Page 245

Interview
And how does the WKF view these
figures of affiliates and non-affiliates?
What I mean is do you afford it any
importance or think that it’s nothing
out of the ordinary. What’s your
reading of it?
“Well, that in a great many places
the only people who join federations
are those who actively take part in
competitions. Most people who like
karate join a club to practice a
certain number of days each week.
That’s the only conclusion we can
draw, rather than the conclusion
others may reach that most people
are outside the federation. I don’t
really know.”
That’s certainly what the figures
seem to show, but it’s not a question
that people dwell on very much. So it’s
not seen as a problem or an anomaly?
I say this because you obviously focus
on developing the sporting and
competitive side. Do you understand
why people who aren’t interested in
the sporting aspects are outside the
sports Federation?
“Yes, because in only a few
countries are clubs legally bound to
register their karateka with the
Federation, so which members are
registered is something that each
club decides.”
I think that comment does you
credit. At the level of the national and
regional federations they seem to take
it more seriously, probably because
karateka who are outside their
umbrella don’t pay their membership
fees and licences, which obviously
hurts them.
Each organisation has its own way of
operating and the ideal organisation is
the one that most closely follows our
own ideas and ways of working, those
of the group that we belong to. The
organisation is the suit of clothes that
we wear, so it should fit what we are

“Algunos grupos
mantienen que el
COI ha reconocido
a uno de cada
cuatro y que el
75% de los
karatekas al
estar fuera de la
WKF, no tendrían
acceso al
olimpismo, etc…
¡Dando a entender
que están todos
en otro mismo
grupo!”
doing. I honestly believe that focusing
too much on the sporting and
competitive side could compromise
the technical and moral values of
traditional karate. It’s already doing so,
in fact.
I do think that the sporting
federations, particularly at the national
and regional levels, are obsessed with
opposing any groups that operate
outside them, when perhaps what they
should be doing is asking why. Those
groups prefer to be outside and in
many cases they stay outside without
any inferiority complex, feeling secure
about where they come from and what
they're there for, in line with their ideas.

I think that by talking to each other
some common ground could be
reached. What can be done to get
these groups to think it’s worth their
while to be on the inside rather than
outside? It’s often about black-belt
issues, which many people think
should be handled through the style
organisations, because it’s something