2021-22 BF Standing Committee Reports

Reports from Rules, Safety & Honours Committees. This article forms part of a series of reports which accompanies the 2021-22 BF Annual Report.

Rules Committee

Thanks to the continuing effects of the Coronavirus  pandemic, the Committee again had a very low-profile year. At the end of October 2021 we had a Zoom meeting to discuss the proposals being put forward for consideration at the FIE Congress: this, with a considerable exchange of e-mails, gave the President all the information necessary for expressing our views at the Congress in Lausanne at the end of November 2021.

Otherwise, the Committee has responded as usual to questions sent in requesting clarification of the Rules. One particular area of repeat questions surrounds equipment requirements at EFC and FIE competitions, further information on this can be found here.

Steve Higginson, Chair

More information on the Rules Committee can be found here.

Safety Committee

Throughout 2021-22 the Committee continued to discharge its responsibilities which include:

• Advising BF on safety issues.
• Responding to members’ queries.
• Reminding membership of specific safety related requirements and rules when considered necessary.
• Monitoring and investigating incidents and accidents and assess the risks facing those involved in our sport.

At the beginning of the 2021-22 season the committee issued a notice reminding fencers, now that fencing was starting up again after the lock-downs, of a variety of safety issues, to ensure that fencing remains a safe sport.

The Committee met by Zoom on 13th January 2022, at which time it was decided to add to the BF Safety Guidelines a reminder to all fencers that they have a duty of care to their opponent when fencing them. No other changes were proposed.

In February the Committee issued a reminder in relation to the required use of masks with 2 rear safety systems at BF Championships from 1st September 2022.

The Safety Committee would again like to take this opportunity to remind all members to fence in a safe way and with equipment and clothes that fully protect themselves and their opponents.

To help ensure that Fencing continues to have one of the best safety records across Olympic sports, the membership is strongly encouraged to report all incidents, accidents and near misses to the Safety Committee. Forms can be found on the BF website:

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/58ff7faa98ed427fa6f9049f8ea99762

Peter Jacobs, Chair

More information on the Safety Committee can be found here.

Honours Committee

The process for proposing 2021 honours by the membership closed on May 29th 2021, and the Honours Committee met on zoom on 17th June. The awards were announced at the 2021 AGM. Proposals for the next round of BF honours, for the 2022 AGM, were solicited from the membership from early January 2022.

Peter Jacobs, Chair

More information on the Honours Committee can be found here.

The full list of Honours presented at the 2021 AGM can be found here.

Read the full 2021-22 Directors’ Report here.