The letter (English version) of WGA President Mr. Holoch to the FCI, left unanswered !!!
Jilove, 12. 11. 2016
Weight Greyhound Association (WGA)
Statement
I would like to make a statement because I want to prevent further misinterpretations. I will do so using this letter in which I am going to explain the true goals of the Weight Greyhound Association (WGA).
WGA was founded an independent nonprofit organization because this way it is legally able to communicate with the FCI directly. Organizations officially working under the FCI have to strictly follow certain rules when they want to make suggestions or complaints and for the goals WGA is trying to achieve following this procedures could have devastating consequences.
Unlike many other similar organizations that are trying to rebel, WGA never intended to work against the FCI. Our goal is simply to come up with a complex analysis of weight racing in 3 years. This analysis will afterwards be presented to the FCI. We see weight racing as a whole new type of competition, its goal is not to replace classical height racing – only to offer an alternative.
We agree that the FCI is trying to divide dogs into height groups as justly as possible, however, all of us can see that fairness is very hard to achieve in this matter. Because of that, many dog owners are unsatisfied and angry with each other and this leads to a quite visible decline in numbers of racing dogs. We are not taking official championships as an ideal example of this decline but unfortunately some states have problems staying within the quota even during important events like that.
With this “new type of competition“ we want to offer dog owners the possibility to optimize their decisions according to the needs of their dogs. When we started we expected that weight racing will mostly be interesting for tall dog owners but after our first race it turned out that weight racing actually favors smaller dogs which are at quite a serious disadvantage when divided according to their height. We also learned that we yet have a long way to go when it comes to optimizing the parameters of weight racing and developing new methods.
The idea of weight racing is not new. What is new is our intention to unite people who are eager for this way of racing, to share our experiences and knowledge, to try everything out, and to come up with an ideal set of rules and conditions. It is understandable that the FCI and the CDL are not able to occupy themselves with this matter on such a large scale. Weight racing is not something that can be established without a lot of experimenting and optimizing, not even by specialists.
We are cooperating with people that have a lot of experience with this type of racing, although, as mentioned before, not even these people have a set of rules that could be used universally. We have a few meetings planned before the end of 2016 and together with representatives from other states we are going to work on our ideas and visions. Apart from the Czech Republic, we are also working with Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. We did not yet reach out to Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland; because we initially need to work with countries that already have experience with weight racing. We are sharing this information openly to show that we will always be working alongside or with the FCI.
It has come to our attention that some people already engaged in sharing misinformation regarding our organization and its goals. We are not surprised. To learn about our true intentions, please visit www.wgaeu.org where all our documents are available for inspection or our Facebook profile www.facebook.com/wgaeu/ which we use for sharing updates.
We turn to you to ask for an assessment in accordance with the FCI Statutes:
- MEMBERSHIP AND PARTNERSHIP
Article 6 Partners
b) non-member organizations : The FCI can enter into special agreements with other organizations
Please consider cooperation with strictly outlined conditions between the FCI and WGA for a set period of 3 years. The result of this cooperation would be a presentation of complex material: a thorough analysis of weight racing and a proposal of optimal conditions for this type of competition. This data will be collected throughout the unification of weight racing during the above mentioned 3 years period.
WGA would also agree to follow any rules and regulations of the FCI with a few exceptions concerning weight racing. WGA would also commit to continuously consult the FCI, inform it about all major decisions, present it with necessary data, and to notify it about race dates in advance. We would also agree to being supervised by a representative of the FCI during events and to take his or her observations into account. We would also agree to follow the ethical codex so that the reputation of the FCI would not come to harm.
We are not an equal partner to the FCI but because of our legal status as a nonprofit organization and our sphere of activity, which is conservation of animals and nature, we are allowed to negotiate on any level. If we come to an agreement, WGA declares that it will relinquish its copyright to any material that would be handed over to the FCI for analysis. WGA will also not ask the FCI for any sort of payment. In the moment of the transfer, the goal of WGA would be completed and the organization would cease to exist.
We are hoping that we can come to terms and help each other out.
Best regards,
Václav Holoch
President of WGA
Email: wgaeu.org@gmail.com
Web site: www.wgaeu.org