Municipalities embrace guidance on martial arts events and the Quality Mark

Whether someone may organise a martial arts event is mainly decided by the municipality in which it is to take place. To help them assess an application properly, the VA drew up a guidance document on martial arts events (Handreiking Vechtsportevenementen). It is now being incorporated into local policy on a large scale. This is leading to greater willingness among municipalities towards galas and tournaments. There is also considerable enthusiasm among municipalities for the Keurmerk Vechtsportautoriteit (the Martial Arts Authority quality mark) for martial arts gyms, which will be launched shortly.

Municipalities are free to make their own assessment when a permit is applied for to hold a martial arts event. One city has had good experiences, another mainly remembers the time things went wrong. Still other municipalities have no experience at all. For instance, they do not know how to find out whether the organiser has a spotless reputation or is constantly in trouble. In recent years some municipalities have said no to every martial arts event without further consideration, while others have said yes without further consideration and then paid no attention to it. Neither attitude is good for the sport. The first obstructs enthusiastic sportspeople, the second gives dubious figures too much room.

Guidance document
In 2017 the VA drew up a guidance document for municipal policy on martial arts events. It sets out criteria that a sound event must meet. The document was drawn up in consultation with promoters, federations and experienced municipal officials responsible for sport and public order. If municipalities refer to this guidance document in their local policy, everyone knows the conditions under which a sound event can be organised. Both the sports sector and the municipalities benefit from this clarity.

Quality mark
Registration for the Keurmerk Vechtsportautoriteit will open shortly. With it, martial arts gyms can demonstrate that they meet the requirements the VA has set out in five areas: venue and equipment, health, technical coaching staff, rules of conduct and standards of behaviour, and inappropriate behaviour. This also tells municipalities who they are dealing with. Municipalities can likewise include the Quality Mark in their local policy as a condition for, among other things, subsidies, cooperation, participation in the municipal discount card and permits. In this way the sports sector itself and the municipalities can together separate the wheat from the chaff.

Enthusiasm
Over the past few months the VA has contacted dozens of municipalities, including all the major cities and most of the municipalities that have had a martial arts event within their boundaries in recent years. The vast majority have embraced our guidance document for events and now use it when handling permit applications. In many cases the guidance document has also been incorporated into their general local by-law (Algemene Plaatselijke Verordening, APV). Municipalities that initially responded to permit applications from a negative starting position are now more open to martial arts events. The Quality Mark has also been received with enthusiasm. The municipality of Amsterdam, for example, has included the Quality Mark as a requirement in its sports policy for the coming years even before its introduction. This gives the Quality Mark a flying start.

In the period ahead, the VA will continue to approach municipalities actively in order to support them in integrating the guidance document and the Quality Mark into local policy.