The general membership meeting of NOC*NSF agreed Monday night to the accession of the Dutch Combat Sports Association (Nederlandse Vechtsportbond, NVB). This makes the organization for kickboxing, muaythai and mixed martial arts (mma) prospective member of the Dutch sports umbrella organization. The VA warmly congratulates all involved with this historic step.
Traditionally, the organization of kickboxing, muaythai and mma was fragmented and the sports did not have a full-fledged sports association. This led to structural problems such as disorderliness at events, attempts from the underworld to take control of the sports, and the lack of national policies to further develop the organization of the sports. This situation necessitated the establishment of the Dutch Martial Arts Authority (Vechtsportautoriteit, VA) in 2017.
From the VA, in cooperation with NOC*NSF and supported by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, a healthy structure for combat sports was worked towards. In the martial arts sector itself, support for this movement grew in recent years. Competition and self-interest were increasingly exchanged for cooperation for the common good. The milestone in this development was the establishment of the Dutch Combat Sports Association (Nederlandse Vechtsportbond) late last year, uniting all the positive forces within these sports. Joining and full recognition by NOC*NSF is the next historic step.
“The VA congratulates not only the people pulling the cart at the NVB, but everyone in the Dutch martial arts world who made this possible,” said VA President Herbert Dekkers. “Starting with the pioneers who brought these sports to the Netherlands and built them up here. But also gym owners, officials, promoters and of course the athletes themselves. Thousands of people have contributed to this amazing development. The recognition by NOC*NSF is a crown on the work of countless people involved.”
This year and next year, the Dutch Combat Sports Association will take over the most important tasks of martial arts organizations that will merge into the new association, as well as the Vechtsportautoriteit. “As the VA, we have picked up tasks in recent years that were left lying around due to the lack of a strong association,” said VA director Farid Gamei. “Central registration of all matches, supporting young talents, top sports policy, advocacy towards politics, things like that. Now that a full-fledged association does stand, all these tasks will be transferred to the NVB. The VA will start limiting itself more and more to the supervisory tasks we were originally set up for.”
