Just over a year ago, the digital Fightpassport was introduced. The time of a handful of paper competition booklets and a lack of overview is definitely over.
The martial arts sector does not have the traditional Dutch association structure, which we see in sports such as football and tennis. There are several federations and organizations that organize and supervise competitions, competitions and tournaments. They all had their own administration. As a result, there was never an overview of the number of matches that a competitor had fought, and how often he or she had won and lost. This could lead to inexperienced fighters facing much more experienced fighters, which is highly undesirable.
Medical information was also not centrally managed. A fighter who was medically suspended by one federation for being knocked out could still fight a match the following weekend at another federation, and perhaps go KO again in a short time. This is very harmful to health and therefore had to be banned.
Fightpassport
The martial arts world wanted to get rid of the clutter. That is why the Martial Arts Authority developed the Fightpassport: one uniform, digital competition booklet for all kickboxers, Thai boxers and MMA fighters. All Dutch martial arts associations and ring doctors have now been using the system for over a year. It has completely replaced the paper competition booklets. Each fighter has a unique number in the digital system, the so-called VA number. Without a VA number as proof of registration, a fighter in the Netherlands will no longer be able to compete.
Ringside doctors
Because all martial arts federations process the results after an event, there is always a clear overview of the history and current status – also in medical terms – of each fighter. Hakim Benali is one of the ringside doctors who can often be found at the ring to ensure the health and safety of the fighters. “The Fight Passport gives us quick insight into the medical status of the athletes. As an independent party, we can record and substantiate a decision to prohibit starting in black and white. This provides clarity for fighters, ring doctors, trainers, promoters and unions. And matchmakers can see from the starting ban list whether a fighter is fit to fight at all.’
The doctors and the VA obviously take a fighter’s privacy into consideration. Apart from the reason and duration of a start ban, there are no further medical data in the system.
Benali sees another advantage in a clear system: “We can use the collected data in the long term to make new analyses. For example, what the most common injuries are. As a sport, we may be able to learn from this in the future.”
Teething problems
As is almost inevitable with the introduction of such a new system, the Fightpassport had teething problems in its first few months. This sometimes led to irritation among the unions, which are the main users. To iron out the wrinkles in the system, there was frequent consultation between the VA and the unions, and also the ring doctors. This led to a number of adjustments. The most important was that the registration of the fighters, initially done by the martial arts associations, is now carried out by the fighters themselves. Improving the system is an ongoing process, so the VA will continue to make adjustments from time to time to make the Fight Passport easier to use. The VA checks the correct processing of the results on a weekly basis.
More knowledge
The year 2019 was the first full year in which the Fight Passport was used at all over 200 events in the Netherlands. It immediately gave us more insight into our sports. We saw that in 2019 more than 8,000 competition fighters registered. Of these, 75% were male and 25% female. No fewer than 7,772 people registered as competitive kickboxers or Thai boxers, and we counted 263 competitive MMA fighters. (In the first months of 2020, almost 1000 new fighters have already been registered, so that the counter is now almost at 9,000.)
Future
Perhaps the most important finding of the analysis was that the majority of registered competitive fighters are minors. “He who has the youth, has the future,” goes the Dutch saying. The future of our sports seems to be in good shape in that regard. But it also underlines the great responsibility of everyone involved in the sport.
The startup problems are out of the system. New steps are being taken to improve it. The time of a handful of paper competition booklets and a lack of overview is definitely over. We can already conclude after a year that the Fight Passport is indispensable in our sports.
