Open letter to the International Speed Badminton Organisation (ISBO)

Dear Board of ISBO

Swiss Speed Badminton is a member oft the ISBO. In the past, there were many discussions (mainly by e-mail) between ISBO and SSB where we made critical comments about the current development of ISBO and the sport of Speed Badminton. We also expressed our concerns at the Assembly of Delegates 2014 in Warsaw. Unfortunately, we were not heard and we never got a satisfying answer. That’s why we decided to write this open letter to ISBO. This letter and the answers we receive will be the basis for the next steps of Swiss Speed Badminton.

We kindly ask ISBO to send us the following documents, respectively respond to the following questions until 31. August 2015 to Swiss Speed Badminton:

• We ask you to send us the ISBO financial report of the year 2014, including the audit report. Furthermore, we want to know who the auditors of ISBO are.
  

  ISBO: The ISBO financial report will be send out prior to the GA after it has been audited by the German tax board. Also we have set a vote for audits on the GA agenda.

• An official statement on why the financial information 2014 was not distributed to the members of ISBO at the beginning of the year 2015.
  

  ISBO: We will publish the 2014 financial report when it is finished and reviewed by our accountant. Due to outstanding invoices and delayed answers from members, we are still in the process of finalizing the report for 2014. This is not uncommon for the report to take some time to be presented as it must be carefully scrutinized by the staff and by the Board as well as the accountant.

• Please send us the budget for the year 2016.
  

  ISBO: The budget will be finalized and published at the GA. As we did last year, we review the budget planning for different scenarios and want to make it as realistic as possible.

• An official statement on the newly created position of the Sport Manager. The following points should be covered:
• • The availability times of the Sport Manager do not account for a 100% employment.
    

    ISBO: The services contracted by the ISBO has Daniel both responsible for the members but also needs to develop Speed Badminton.  The ISBO and Daniel agreed on fixed hours where members can contact him. We have had excellent feedback on availability and the promptness of his service.

  •  As we all know, Daniel Gossen’s former employer was Speedminton GmbH. We want to know how it is ensured, that the Sport Manager acts fully on behalf of ISBO and the sport Speed Badminton and not for the sponsor Speedminton GmbH
    

    ISBO: The outcome of his work and the daily communication with the board clearly shows us that he is fully committed to his work with the ISBO.  Also, we as the board strongly trust Daniel and our long term partner and sponsor and its employees that there are no hidden agreements.

  • Where in the organisational chart is the position of the Sport Manager and to whom does he report?
    

    ISBO: The SM position has been created after the 2014 GA where the hiring has been agreed on. He reports directly to the ISBO board members if it comes to strategic tasks, projects and reports the daily business inquiries. Also, he will report to the ISBO members at each GA and communicates with the athletes and officials via newsletters, emails and social media at least once a month.

• All ISBO members pay the same annual fee of EUR 250, but they do not have the same voting rights on the association meeting. According to the statutes, the voting rights are still dependant on the size of a member.  We ask you for an explanation how this is justifiable.
• We would expect to vote on an amendment of the statutes §7.5 concerning the votes on the Assembly of Delegates 2015.
  

  ISBO: At this point in the development of the ISBO, we asked for a nominal fee of EUR 250 from each member.  We do know that many international sport federations (IF) charge their membership fee based on the size of their budget and/or the number of members (players/coaches/officials) in their respective national organizations.  Thus the larger the budget and/or membership numbers, the more a member federation would have to pay.  However, these larger organizations expect more power in the decision-making as a result.

• We ask for a half-year report of the new Sport Manager with an overview of his achievements for ISBO including a report including a comparison of budget figures with actual figures.
  

  ISBO: All information in this regards will be given at the GA. Also we can add this proposal for a semi-annually report to the agenda for the GA. Please confirm.

• We ask for an official statement on why the Assembly of Delegates 2014 was not held and protocolled properly.
• • The Protocol does not include any information on the representatives of each country. 
  • There is no information on the majority of votes.
    

    ISBO: The votes per country are in the sheet on page one of the protocol. We will add the name list of the assembly asap. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

  • Some of the participants were not ISBO members and we are wondering, why those people were eligible to vote anyway in the Assembly of Delegates.
    

    ISBO: Please tell us who you are referring to.  From our recollection of the meeting, no one voted who was not able to vote.  As well, no delegation mentioned this at the last GA and for nine months no one has said anything to us about it.

• We expect a proper held and protocolled Assembly of Delegates in 2015!
  

  ISBO: The GA has been held according to the German BGB and the protocol has been accepted by the court in Germany. You need to clearly explain what your expectations are.

• We want an official statement on the name of our sport. For our marketing measures we need to know if Speed Badminton will be the name for the future. Otherwise, we ask you to inform us on the new name by august 31 2015, at the latest.
  

  ISBO: The topic is on the agenda for the GA 2015. We are not able to move on here without an official vote.

• We ask you for an official statement on the continuation of the tournament software Ophardt, even though the workgroup (convened at the Assembly of Delegates 2014) recommended the change to the «Tournament Software».
  

  ISBO: After reviewing the report from the workgroup and discussing it in the board we have made the following conclusion: Both systems shall be tested by the representatives of our member organizations within the first months in 2015 and we will have a vote at the GA. This decision has been communicated to the head of the workgroup with the direction to make sure that we get a free test account from Tournament Software. Unfortunately this was not possible because Tournament Software did not agree in this. That is the status quo and we have not seen any further development in this matter within the last weeks.

• We ask for a change of the statutes, which includes a paragraph that excludes the ISBO-members of any liability.
  

  ISBO: Thanks you for the proposal. We will check this matter and put it on the GA agenda.

• We ask for a national sponsoring concept of the ISBO that can be used by all members.
  

  ISBO: Thank you for the proposal. We think this is a great service for our members and will start working on this asap.

• We want to know, if there is a sponsoring concept for the ISBO and how the association tries to find new financial resources.
  

  ISBO: Will be part of the Sport managers report. Up to this point, we have been focusing on finding sponsors for the WC 2015.

• We ask you for an official statement on the special status of the Swedish association until they were added as an ISBO-member only a few weeks ago, including documents on the licence fees paid.                   Background: Sweden was not a member of the ISBO at least until March 2015. Nevertheless, players from Sweden could take part at ISBO tournaments already in the past, the Swedes were allowed to hold ISBO tournaments in the past and some representatives were part of the ISBO Assembly of Delegates 2014.
  

  ISBO: The Swedish Speed Badminton Organization has joined the ISBO on March 10th 2015. We have already answered your request here on September 14^th 2014: You are right with the fact that the Swedish Speed Badminton Federation is not registered and therefore could not become an ISBO member so far. The reason why we allowed them to participate in ISBO tournaments was that we want to keep the country in the ISBO family, believe in their efforts to have a federation established soon and have that organization in the ISBO by the end of 2014. We do not know which standard or rule forbids non-ISBO members to host ISBO tournament when they check with the ISBO first and get their tournament approved.  At the last World Championships, there were over 50 countries represented by players but not all of the countries have not yet organized their national federations. As a very young sport, we must be aware of this fact and continue to let all players from any country to be a part of our sport.

• We expect, that all changes in rules, tournament standards and other amendments have to be voted on at the Assembly of Delegates. The new documents have to be available at January 1^st at the latest.
  

  ISBO: Thank you for your request. As per the ISBO statutes that were accepted by the membership, the timelines and rules will be followed.  If you do not have a copy of the statutes, please ask the Sport Manager for a copy.

Best regards

Swiss Speed Badminton (April 2015)

Offener Brief an die ISBO (International Speed Badminton Organisation)

Geschätzter ISBO-Vorstand

Swiss Speed Badminton ist Mitglied in der ISBO. In der Vergangenheit fanden diverse Gespräche und Mailaustausche zwischen der ISBO und dem SSB statt. Der aktuellen Entwicklung von der Sportart Speed Badminton und dem Verband ISBO stehen wir kritisch gegenüber, was wir bereits mehrfach Kund getan sowie an der Delegiertenversammlung 2014 vertreten haben. Leider ohne Erfolg. Deswegen fühlen wir uns gezwungen, mit diesem offenen Schreiben, eine Grundlage zu erhalten, um allfällige weitere Schritte im Bezug auf Speed Badminton in der Schweiz zu treffen.

Swiss Speed Badminton erwartet von der ISBO (International Speed Badminton Organisation) bis spätestens 31.08.2015 ...

• einen rechtsgültigen ISBO-Finanzbericht 2014 inklusive dem dazugehörigen Revisorenbericht.
• eine öffentliche Stellungnahme, warum Finanz- und Revisorenbericht 2014 noch nicht per Ende 2014/Anfang 2015 verfügbar sind.
• die Namensnennung der aktuellen Finanz-Revisoren der ISBO.
• ein detailliertes Budget für 2016.
• eine öffentliche Stellungnahme zum Sport-Manager-Amt. Darin sollen folgende Fragen beantwortet sein:
• • Wie ist eine 100%-Anstellung bei der ISBO gerechtfertig, die von den Verbandsmitgliedern mitfinanziert wird, wenn der Sport Manager nur 50% erreichbar ist?
  • Aufgrund der Vergangenheit von Daniel Gossen für die Speedminton GmbH stellt sich die Frage, wie die ISBO sicher stellt, dass der amtierende Sport Manager Daniel Gossen zu 100% die Interessen der ISBO vertritt und nicht mehr für die Speedminton GmbH tätig ist und deren Interessen vertritt?
  • Wer ist der Vorgesetzte von Sport Manager Daniel Gossen?
• eine öffentliche Stellungnahme wie es gerechtfertigt ist, dass alle ISBO-Mitglieder die identische Jahresgebühr von 250 Euro entrichten müssen, jedoch unterschiedlich viele Stimmen in der Delegierten Versammlung haben (siehe Statuten).
• einen Statutenänderungsvorschlag im Bezug auf die Anzahl Stimmen pro Mitgliederverband z.H. der DV 2015.
• einen Halbjahresbericht des Sport Managers Daniel Gossen über das von ihm bis dahin Geleistete für die ISBO sowie den aktuellen Stand des verwalteten Budgets 2015.
• eine öffentliche Stellungnahme, wieso die DV 2014 nicht ordnungsgemäss durchgeführt und protokolliert worden ist:
• • Das Protokoll beinhaltet keine Angaben zu den an der Versammlung anwesenden und stimmberechtigten Personen.
  • Das absolute Mehr ist nicht definiert.
  • Es waren Personen an der DV zumindest teilweise anwesend und stimmberechtigt, die gemäss der ISBO-Mitgliederliste überhaupt nicht Teilnahmeberechtigt waren.
• eine ordentliche, korrekt durchgeführte und rechtmässig protokollierte DV 2015.
• eine öffentliche Stellungnahme inklusive Entscheid darüber, ob «Speed Badminton» langfristig der Name unserer Sportart bleibt. Falls nicht, dann erwarten wir den neuen Namen ebenfalls spätestens per 31.08.2015.
• eine öffentliche Stellungnahme zur Weiterführung der Turnierorganisation mit dem Ophardt-System, obwohl eine Turniersoftware-Arbeitsgruppe (einberufen an der DV 2014) dem ISBO-Vorstand die Tournament-Software anstelle des Ophardt-Systems empfohlen hat.
• die Statuen so ergänzt werden, dass ein zusätzlicher Paragraph die ISBO-Mitglieder von jeder Haftung ausschliesst.
• ein Sponsoringkonzept für nationale Verbände.
• das Vorliegen des Sponsoringkonzepts für die ISBO.
• eine öffentliche Stellungnahme über die Sonder-Situation zwischen der ISBO und Schweden (bis diese ISBO-Mitglied vor ein paar Wochen wurden), inklusive Belege für geleistete extra Lizenz-/Organisationsgebühren durch Schweden. Hintergrund/Facts dazu: Schwedische SpielerInnen durften in der Vergangenheit immer an allen ISBO-Turnieren teilnehmen, schwedische Turnierorganisatoren durften offizielle ISBO-Turniere ausrichten und Schwedische SpielerInnen/Verantwortliche waren an Versammlungen anwesend und stimmberechtigt ohne dass Schweden ein ISBO-Mitglied war.
• eine Verpflichtung, dass zukünftig alle Regel-, Turnierstandards- und weitere Änderungen an der DV im laufenden Jahr präsentiert und darüber abschliessend entschieden wird. Anschliessend müssen diese angepassten Dokumente spätestens bis 01.01. des Folgejahres online verfügbar sein.

Sportliche Grüsse

Swiss Speed Badminton (April 2015)