FIPPA Newsletter - July 2007.
Welcome to this edition of the FIPPA Newsletter.
MERVYN COONEY - FIPPA President
Q1. What has pleased you in your first year as President of the Federation of International Pitch and Putt Associations?
The enthusiasm of everyone concerned, particularly among new countries in Pitch and Putt terms, is phenomenal and has greatly encouraged me. These territories have been inventive in their approach to development. In the more established countries, it is perhaps more difficult to be innovative. In the newer countries they have no baggage and find it perhaps easier to embrace changes and be progressive. Obviously, FIPPA has a long way to go and maybe that invention and the desire to move forward needs to be tempered slightly on occasion. That is necessary so that we can develop a sound basis – in the areas of rules, constitution, various aspects of development and marketing and all our projects - so that we can move forward with confidence. Sometimes, we might be too keen to move ahead at a very fast pace and might find ourselves a year or so ahead back on the drawing board.
Q2. Is there anything that has disappointed you or anything that hasn’t gone as well as you anticipated expected?
Disappointed isn’t a word I would use. Areas that we wanted to move forward have been somewhat slower than we would like. We can put that down to a number of factors not least of which is the language barrier. Sometimes, we agree a policy and strategy at meetings and then find some months on that people have proceeded in a different direction.
All of the sports Administrators at FIPPA are trying to operate on a voluntary part-time basis – and consequently are not able to devote as much time as we would like. I hope to see that change in the coming weeks. We will have somebody (Martin Whitelaw) in place to deal with day to matters for FIPPA and be in contact with each country on a daily or weekly basis. We can then be comfortable that our policies and strategies are the ones that every country is also familiar with.
Q3. Is FIPPA about marketing Pitch and Putt or is it about running Pitch and Putt competitions?
If you look back to the formation of the European Pitch and Putt Association, its primary role was the running of competitions. We made no real inroads into marketing. Our Constitution stated that our primary role was to promote international competition between member countries. We’ve reached a new level with the formation of FIPPA. We need to pursue parallel both a marketing policy and a competitions strategy. We need to run quality events, not every weekend but definitely a number annually. We need to run top quality events on a worldwide basis but must promote Pitch and Putt positively to a wider audience. The only way we can do that is by organising high quality competitions and by implication marketing Pitch and Putt as an organized sport.
Mervyn Cooney
Q4. Where will FIPPA find the money to fund its activities?
It’s a major concern. Many of the excellent ideas coming forward from Board and Council would entail spending a significant amount of money. Finding that money is never going to be easy. We have introduced a policy of levying competitors in international open competitions and of course each FIPPA member makes a budgetary contribution. Currently it’s a modest standard fee to be a member of FIPPA. Realistically, at present most of the budget will have to come from people playing in our competitions and from the possible generous contribution from the Catalan government. Ideally, we wish to market the sport and generate sponsorship but that’s a long term policy. Five years would be a realistic target to set for sponsorship and a more marketing oriented policy.
Q5. How easy has it been to mobilize the Board of FIPPA both in terms of an equality of contribution and an input in policy development and decisions?
It appears at the outset to be difficult but on the other hand it’s not that difficult as all concerned are enthusiastic. The fundamental difficulty is not being able to meet in person on a regular basis. Face to face meetings of the Board and Council have featured very healthy discussions, plenty of good suggestions and a very commonsense approach. Developing these matters on an e-mail basis between meetings is not easy as the speed of response is not prompt enough and interpretation can sometimes differ. It’s imperative that our next face to face meeting must resolve this. We need to get everybody replying within a reasonable 7-10 days time span. However, we have been making significant progress and we need to continue to break down any language barriers.
Q6. How should FIPPA interact with EPPA and vice versa?
Interaction is quite difficult. It was brought home to me by Fernando Morgado at our last meeting in Catalonia. Europe is the real hub of international Pitch and Putt. At this moment in time, do we need two international organizations for the size of our our sport? That is the question we have to answer. Ideally, FIPPA should be the coming together of a European Pitch and Putt Association with the likes of an Australasian Association, North American Association, South American Association. Of course, we efffectively only have a European Pitch and Putt Association currently. It’s a bit difficult for us as there are overlaps in so many areas Our priority at the moment should be a concentration on the European championships in October – we’re trying to link that in with World Cup 2008. Maybe as we progress we will achieve a better interaction. I believe a new President at EPPA level would help as he or she would be able to devote all his/her energies in Europe.
Q7. How realistic is it as an objective for FIPPA to aim to be a member of GAISF?
We certainly aspire to it. It would be marvellous for us to be in GAISF. Realistically, I feel it’s along way down the road I feel we shouldn’t preoccupy ourselves too much with that at this point in time – we have many other issues to concentrate on. Clearly, it’s going to take quite some time to get a sufficient number of countries to qualify so it’s long term objective.
Q8. How important do you think the link up is with the magazine Forat 18?
That’s very positive for us. Forat 18 is becoming the international Pitch and Putt magazine by carrying the FIPPA section. Readers in Catalonia can keep up to date with what’s happening locally and very importantly get an insight into what’s happening internationally. International circulation and it being carried on the web are hugely helpful to us in spreading the message.
Q9. Your view on fippa.net?
Fippa.net is an excellent website and I would like to congratulate Eero Tarik for the excellent work he has done on that. He is one of our most proactive Board members. He has done wonderful work, especially on fippa.net. The website is very professional and is an invaluable promotional tool. I know Eero has aspirations to use the website in a broader sense, such as to generate revenue and hopefully that will come to pass.
Q10. Are you hopeful of delivering a worldwide set of specific Pitch and Putt rules?
Very hopeful. I know that some people have been slightly upset about the process but my principal aim is to have a set of rules developed for FIPPA that we would be able to implement properly without reverting to any other printed matter. The rulebook will be used to run all our events and in time will be there for local organisations to buy into, with the addition of some local rules. We have come through a hard slog with great dedication on the part of a number of people and are now entering the final consultative phase. The rulebook is very much on the cards now. It should be in place by January 2008, which is not bad given that we will still have been less than two years in existence. It will be a great boost to us and very helpful in promotion. No longer will we struggle to answer the interview question, “Why are you using the rules of golf?” I consider it quite a comprehensive rule book but easier to follow than the golf rule book and even the PPUI rule book. Obviously, it will evolve over a number of years following various competitions and decisions taken during those competitions. I’m hugely looking forward to the completion of the process as I believe this will be one of the great achievements of FIPPA.
Q11. What’s your view on the ideal strategy to develop new FIPPA members – should we concentrate on countries where Pitch and Putt is already a reality or is there merit in visiting countries where entrepreneurs are considering establishing Pitch and Putt?
We need to do both. I don’t see anything wrong with courting ‘new’ countries like China but we need to do that in conjunction with countries where Pitch and Putt exists, even in a commercial way. The key is fitting our strategy to the reality in the particular country. What has been done in Australia is the model we’d like to follow – form an Association and invite the courses to join. We’re delighted that Paul Busch has decided to do the same in Canada. We would be very keen to see that model used in the USA. I don’t think there’s a future for us in picking a club in Ohio or a club in New York city. The formation of a national organization is crucial, or as an interim step provincial or state bodies like is the prospect in Mexico and which could work in the USA. So it’s a joint approach. The potential in China is enormous and the situation is quite positive based on your trip there with Jose-Maria. If China, USA, Canada and Mexico join us, it will be a hugely positive outcome for our sport.
(with John Manning)
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