Sanctioning Tournaments: A fine point

[jjefferies]

Recently there has been a discussion of a tournament advertised on AskFred as a USFA tournament which in fact had not been sanctioned by the local Division prior to the tournament. Whether this was a matter of simple oversight on someone's part or whatever is moot as I don't believe any of its events were strong enough to warrant a change in any participant's classification. But my question is whether there is a requirement from the USFA for sanctioning to have been given before a tournament. Or could a club hold a tournament and afterwards ask for sanctioning? Obviously asking for sanctioning afterwards has its risks but the local division is rather laissez faire about sanctioning and that might or might not be a concern. The discussion just made me wonder and my question is whether the USFA has any directive or policy on such matters.

[KD5MDK]

I don't believe there is a specific policy statement, but common sense says that retroactive sanctioning is not possible, except perhaps in the case of some error on the division's part.

[fdad]

In order for an event to be sanctioned, it needs to be advertised in advance as such. As you point out, there is a potential for a unsanctioned event to be advertised as a sanctioned one. Hopefully that does not occur often and that behavior isn't rewarded by sanction after the fact.

[ladyofshalott99]

But my question is whether there is a requirement from the USFA for sanctioning to have been given before a tournament. Or could a club hold a tournament and afterwards ask for sanctioning? Obviously asking for sanctioning afterwards has its risks but the local division is rather laissez faire about sanctioning and that might or might not be a concern. The discussion just made me wonder and my question is whether the USFA has any directive or policy on such matters.

They absolutely have a policy, and what you're describing is absolutely not allowed.


Tournament organizers MUST request Sanctioning from their Division prior to the event being held. It MUST also be posted on that Divsion's Official Calendar.

Per the USFA Operations Manual, Tournaments that are not added to the Division's Official Calendar WILL NOT BE SANCTIONED.

Merely posting your event on AskFRED does not constitute a request for Sanctioning. You MUST make that request directly to your Division's leadership in order for it to be an officially-recognized USFA event.

Per Chapter 3, Section 1, Part C, #3: "Authorized/Sanctioned Competitions":

"Sanctioned tournaments or competitions are those published by an acceptable
USFA official (Division, Section, Regional Youth Circuit or National USFA)
means of communication – in print, electronic media via email and/or official web
site. Any deviation from published information about the sanctioned competitions
– either in manner of operation or splitting or combining to increase the number
of classifications to be earned can be the basis for withdrawal of the sanction and

thus nullify award of classifications."

So. You can't just decide to have a tournament, post it on AskFRED, then expect your Division to Sanction it a) without advance consideration, b) at any time of the year you feel like holding a tournament, or c) without enough advance time for the Division's leadership to post it on the Divsion's Official Calendar. And you certainly CAN'T ask for retroactive-Sanctioning and expect it to be passed. This is absolutely, unoquivocally, not legal, and any Division that does this is breaking the mandates established and set forth in the USFA Operations Manual. And if you observe that that might be occuring, you should take that concern to your Section.

Your Division leadership may not know the rule, but not knowing it is no excuse for allowing said activity to proceed. Yes. It's a huge pain. But having personally committed this mistake before (not adding a date to the Calendar, event was held, other coaches had a problem with it not having been on the Calendar, and the event ending up being un-Sanctioned), this is NOT something you want to mess up. This is one of the most important functions of the Division. Not requesting proper Sanctioning, and any mention of retroactive approval, threatens the integrity and trustworthiness of your Division's leadership and the validation of other events in your area as being approved and honorable.

What I would do, is e-mail your Chair, ask them if they're aware of the rule as-listed in the Operations Manual, and inquire as to whether they're aware that they cannot provide Sanctioning under the circumstances that you described. You don't have to be mean about it, because, again, it might just be an honest mistake, but they should be made aware of the mistake nonetheless. If they do the right thing, they'll correct their mistake. If they go ahead and Sanction it, then that's when you take your concern to the Section.


Cliffs: Yes, you must have official Division Sanctioning, and the event posted on the Calendar, well in advance of when it is to be held.

[TooLoftheDeviL]

I know there are successful divisions that run all sanctioned events themselves. Most of the divisions I have seen let clubs do all the work with regards to hosting, and then sanction out a calendar in advance (akin to the conversation above.)

Are there any divisions (successful or otherwise) that just let clubs run whatever schedule they want (even in conflict with other clubs) and sanction everything that gets held that can be shown to have been held in accordance with the rules?

Hope that made sense >.>

[fdad]

I know there are successful divisions that run all sanctioned events themselves. Most of the divisions I have seen let clubs do all the work with regards to hosting, and then sanction out a calendar in advance (akin to the conversation above.)

Are there any divisions (successful or otherwise) that just let clubs run whatever schedule they want (even in conflict with other clubs) and sanction everything that gets held that can be shown to have been held in accordance with the rules?

Hope that made sense >.>

There is at least one single club division (South Jersey). The owner of the club is also the division president. I can't find a website where they might post their schedule.

[oiuyt]

There is at least one single club division (South Jersey). The owner of the club is also the division president. I can't find a website where they might post their schedule.

Speaking as a member of the division in question (although not of the one club), I believe the division decided a couple of years ago to use FRED as our official calendar.

That said, we also have a website for the division that includes an events page.

-B

[jjefferies]

There is at least one single club division (South Jersey). The owner of the club is also the division president. I can't find a website where they might post their schedule.

Speaking as a member of the division in question (although not of the one club), I believe the division decided a couple of years ago to use FRED as our official calendar.

That said, we also have a website for the division that includes an events page.

-B

A Division with one club. The mind boggles, ?WHY¿ would the USFA have a Division with just one club? What purpose does this serve? I know of at least one Division whose clubs are more than a hundred miles apart. But they do have more than 1 club.

[jjefferies]

They absolutely have a policy, and what you're describing is absolutely not allowed.
:
Cliffs: Yes, you must have official Division Sanctioning, and the event posted on the Calendar, well in advance of when it is to be held. [/SIZE]

Hello ladyofshalott99, you've either misread or misinterpreted the original question. No one has done this. I was asking if it were possible. But thank you for the citations. With more Divisions using AskFred it is possible for an event to be properly published and all the things done but someone forgot to ask the Division for sanctioning before hand. But to my knowledge this has not happened.

[oiuyt]

A Division with one club. The mind boggles, ?WHY¿ would the USFA have a Division with just one club? What purpose does this serve? I know of at least one Division whose clubs are more than a hundred miles apart. But they do have more than 1 club.

The division has had other clubs in the past. It currently has one member club.

-B

[fdad]

Speaking as a member of the division in question (although not of the one club), I believe the division decided a couple of years ago to use FRED as our official calendar.

That said, we also have a website for the division that includes an events page.

-B

I googled for the division website, but can't find it. Can you post a link? What is to stop a non club based organizer from creating an askfred entry and claiming its a sanctioned event (it is after all on the official calendar)?

[Goldgar]

I googled for the division website, but can't find it. Can you post a link? What is to stop a non club based organizer from creating an askfred entry and claiming its a sanctioned event (it is after all on the official calendar)?

Brad did post a link, anchored by the word "website" in his post, but it was not formed correctly. The URL is "southjerseyfencing.org".

[oiuyt]

Brad did post a link, anchored by the word "website" in his post, but it was not formed correctly. The URL is "southjerseyfencing.org".

Edited to fix the link. Had an extra " in what I pasted to FNet.

-B