Europeans still out of IRF

The European Racquetball Federation's (ERF) Annual Congress was held during the European Championships last week in Nanterre, France. At that meeting the ERF discussed rejoining the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) from which they had withdrawn last year at the IRF Congress in Ireland.

The ERF decided not to rejoin the IRF at this time.

Erik Meyer, ERF President, cited three reasons for this decision in a message to IRF President, Keith Caulkins.

One reason was that nothing had changed in the year since the separation with the exception of the IRF's Strategic Planning Meeting in February. However, while Meyer acknowledged that meeting was positive, he stated the ERF have seen "no real results 6 months after this meeting."

Second, according to Meyer "the ERF members don't see any reasons to be part of the IRF and don't see how the IRF can be of any help to promote racquetball in Europe."

Finally, Meyer suggested that "if the lingering issues are not addressed in a more efficient and quicker way the ERF will take further steps to obtain better results" which may include "discouraging ERF members [from participating] in IRF events."

As we've stated before, this split does not serve the sport well. A potential decrease in countries participating at the World Championships would be unfortunate.

It would serve all racquetball players better if racquetball organizations could cooperate and all pull together. At the international level, this means having all the national and international racquetball organizations working towards the same goals.

Follow the bouncing ball....