Here you can read the reaction of the FIFG Board to the Swiss tournament called The Classic.

​Dear FIFG Members and World Tour Players,
 
Because of the confusion originated around The Classic FootGolf event in Switzerland and several emails we have received from country members and players, we feel that it is best if we share with you what the FIFG Board of Directors received as information about the decision made entirely and exclusively by the members of the Swiss FootGolf Board.

Please be clear that it was not until July 14th, 2020 that the FIFG Board received the following letter from Guy Pernet as President of Association Suisse de FootGolf. 
 
"Dear members of the board,
 
Following our board meeting from yesterday evening I inform you that :

- Swissfootgolf will note use blue golf system for the competitions in 2020. This has to consequence that no  competition will be integrated in the Regional Tour 3 and the World Tour from now until 31.12.2020. 

- At the moment no Swiss player attend to take a FIFG licence from now until 31.12.2020

Regarding the last FIFG news send by Lucas concerning the payment from 2020 FIFG fees can you please send us asap an invoice like during the previous year. So your treasurer will be able to pay asap the amount of $500.-.

Best regards
 
Association Suisse de Footgolf (Swissfootgolf)

Guy Pernet, président"

We want to make everyone clear that the FIFG Board did not make any decision as to The Classic not having any FIFG World Tour points. The decision was made by the Swiss Board and the information was forwarded to us a few months after opening registration to the tournament. This has nothing to do with their membership fee to the FIFG as they will pay that as all members do nor does it have anything to do with them not wanting to use the BlueGolf system as far as we know.  They actually were one of the first countries to get their payment system into BlueGolf when the Board set that step and have been active in learning how to use the BlueGolf system. Besides, the decision of using BlueGolf has been duly communicated to every country by the end of last year.

The decision to remove this tournament from the World Tour was solely their decision, even though they initially used the FIFG World Tour platform to promote the event offering FIFG World Tour points. As the FIFG Board we understand the concern of all players and we were very surprised to get this email from them especially knowing that they had The Classic coming up.  What we were not informed of was the letter that they sent out to all players about the situation and we regret that many of you took that letter to mean that the FIFG had banned them from participating in the World Tour because they didn't want to use the BlueGolf system and/or they wanted to included non-licensed players. 

We suggest that you direct all further questions to the Swiss Board and hopefully they will satisfy your concerns.  As a Board we take very seriously the hardship the Swiss Board has caused with their decision to many players, especially during these times when travel is difficult. The Board is reviewing this situation and will take steps to make sure this does not happen again without player knowledge before they pay entry fees. 

Sincerely,
 
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Federation for International FootGolf

Given the results carried out in a questionnaire by the FIFG in June, it has been decided that the World Tour will not resume on July 1st. After analyzing several factors and the results, the FIFG has determined the World Tour will resume from September 1st through August 31st in 2021.

The FIFG has asked their member countries about the different situations. They have provided their local restrictions and opinions regarding the practice of FootGolf. There is a lot of uncertainty in most countries of when everything will be normalized, all is basically assumptions.

It was clear, the World Tour can not be resumed from July, but it can be restarted from September. The actual World Tour ends on 31st August 2021.

The tournaments played prior to the suspension (March 27th), will count towards the rankings. These tournaments will be discounted from the amount each Region can organize. For instance, Region 1 already had a FIFG 500 in March; they now have two FIFG 500 remaining until August 31st in 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic makes everything harder nowadays and the fight against the virus has a different status in every country. FIFG asked the members how they can go on with the Regionals in times when the World Tour is suspended.

The FIFG carried out another questionnaire to obtain information regarding all of the
country members’ thoughts of the implementation of the Regional Tour. The results have indicated that more than 70% believe it should be decided within each region.

“Every region is living different realities; therefore, we believe Regional Tour tournaments should be considered as an internal decision.“ said Javier de Ancizar, World Tour director.

Regional Tours consist of FIFG 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000. Every region can organize any of these tournaments, though the FIFG 250, 500 and 1000 will only count for the regional rankings if it is organized prior to the reestablishment of the World Tour competitions. While the World Tour is suspended these tournaments should be differentiated with the letter R (regional) and the region number. For example, a FIFG 500 in region 3 would be a R3-500.

“We believe this will help the player know what they are competing for.” he added.

After evaluating all country responses and feedback, the FIFG decided to postpone the continuation of the World Tour at least until July 1st. FIFG keeps following the worldwide situation and makes a decision on June 15th.

The FIFG has shared a questionnaire with all the country members in order to see what the FootGolf condition is across the globe due to the international health emergency of the COVID-19.
​
The results show:

• In about 45% of the countries sporting activities are currently suspended.
• 53% of the countries do not have official information from its authorities about when they will be able to organize FootGolf tournaments.
• In about 65% of the countries people can not travel abroad or tourists can not enter the country until July 1st (some countries allowing cross-border travel require a 14-day quarantine upon arrival).

“On the weekly board meeting, FIFG decided to postpone the continuation of the World Tour at least until July 1st. We will take the next 30 days to keep examining all the country regulations and ratify or rectify our decision on June 15th.” said Javier de Ancizar, World Tour director.