European 3d Festival In France Next Year

[ukarcher]

Rob....maybe. Is record status where you have to get the arrow through the hole in the centre? It is a shame that the GNAS is what international archers see as British field archery.
Graham

[Haywain]

Originally Posted by ukarcher

It is a shame that the GNAS is what international archers see as British field archery.
Graham

The IFAA actually recognise the EFAA as the lead on field archery in England. If you go to their web site and click on the link for England you are taken to the EFAA website. I believe they only recognise one society in any country as well.

As some of the EFAA rounds are also used by the NFAS, the societies are more compatible to each other and is the reason why many NFAS members are also members of the EFAA. And is especially true if they wish to enter international competitions, something not done by the NFAS.

[ukarcher]

Haywain, I was thinking more British rather than English.

[Haywain]

Originally Posted by ukarcher

Haywain, I was thinking more British rather than English.

I stand corrected...... focused on the word international and went down that root. I know the GNAS have an international field section, but having been created AFTER IFAA, who should take precedence?

It would seem that there are just as many problems on the International front as there are nationally? More than one governing body for the sport does rather spoil things doesn't it?

"Too many chiefs and not enough indians" - or the politically correct version, "Too many Robins and not enough Merry Men."

[Karen]

Don't really have a problem here with having two governing bodies - there is the FFTA (GNAS affiliated) which run the three field disciplines as well as all the Olympic type target shoots , and the FFTL (IFAA affiliated) which run the IFAA (like the EFAA, I suppose) shoots which use longer distances and are generally the 'iron man' type of events in comparison.
As a lot of the clubs have a dual membership to both then there really isn't too great a problem - you just shoot as and where you like with the field shoots - the only difference is that due to the huge number of archers for some of the FFTA shoots then they have to have a qualifier (done by the National Ranking system kept by computer )for the French Championships to keep the entries down to about 500 to make them manageable ! The FFTL championship is open to anyone who wants to shoot and has a FFTL licence, but due to the greater difficulty of the courses it tends to have a manageable number anyway.
So everyone gets a go at whatever level they aspire to.

How does this compare to the GNAS system where only the FITA field rounds exist, or with the other organisations who seem to think that they are the only ones who should exist - come on, lets have a bit of give and take here and go out to enjoy yourselves - its the shooting that matters, not the politics !

On a final note - I used to shoot barebow recurve and got really quite good, but this year have had to change to longbow (FITA longbow - which is really a flatbow).
I tried to come over to shoot at the GNAS field shoot in Wales, as it counts for the World Ranking system and that includes fita longbow.
I was told that although it was a world ranking shoot (theres only a few in each country that count towards this) they would not be putting out the yellow pegs (as per the fita regulations) at this shoot as they already had three pegs out and that was enough !
Also I couldn't shoot my flatbow in the longbow class as the gnas have their own special regulations for this - this I understand, but when I asked if I could just shoot to record a score for the rankings (not wishing to take any prizes from the longbow archers) I was told that I could'nt do this either.

How can these organisations be affiliated to Fita and yet seemingly make up their own regulations - they want a world ranking competion, but don;t want to give all the archers a chance to shoot it. I'm sure there are several flatbow (fita longbow qualified) Archers out there who would love to try for a ranking score.

When I queried this regulation for longbows then I was told that when they had asked some of their archers whether they wanted to change to the fita classification for this ( or even having a class for them) then they had voted not to as they were happy with the way things were.

Turkeys voting for Christmas maybe comes to mind here!

[ukarcher]

Karen, that is what we were getting at. GNAS are so stuffed with stupid rules that not many people bother to shoot it. EFAA and NFAS are structured much simpler and friendlier. I just received my Archery UK magazine (GNAS publication) and out of 60 pages, 2 were devoted to field archery. They just don't promote field archery, and they are the governing body for the British team. NFAS have it in their constitution that they are not interested in international competition and that's fine. It's a domestic organisation.

[Swaledale]

Originally Posted by robtattoo

Hmmmmmm......makes you think, doesn't it. Maybe because the NFAS has a class for ALL bow/arrow combinations, maybe because the NFAS doesn't have a dress code, maybe because the NFAS is more 'user friendly' & doesn't ruin the simplicity of field with a lot of rules & regulations, mybe because when the NFAS says 'Compound Unlimited' they actually mean it, rather than imposing draw-weight restrictions, maybe because they recognise flatbows as a class, maybe because NFAS shoots are friendly, sociable affairs & not all gussied up with titles like 'Record status' or 'Arrowhead status'
(WTF is Record status anyway?? I'd read the GNAS rulebook to find out, but I'm only expecting to live for another 40 years or so, so probably won't have time...)

Just a thought.


ps. I'm not having a pop at you in any way, shape or form Swaledale, just the GNAS for not allowing me to shoot competetively in ANY of their field disciplines (I'd shoot compound U/L but it's a 70#er)

Hi Rob
Sadly it does make you think and yes the class system in GNAS is depressingly unrepresentative, there are however no dress regs in GNAS field.
Re the u/l rules, both as bad as each other, 60lb on GNAS and 300ft/sec on NFAS.
The record status, all that is about is that you can, if you are good enough, achieve a record breaking score and have it officialy logged thats all. The arrow head on the other hand is quite a nice thing for your average archer. There are a set of mile posts as it were and you get a badge (arrowhead), as you pass each score level so there is something for archers to achieve at every level, this is one of the better aspects of FITA/GNAS field.
Regarding the friendliness, believe me it is just as good, field archers are field archers but you can get a crap group in either!
You'll have to call in if you are over this way, PM me if you fancy a blast round.

[Swaledale]

Re the flat bow issue, I have heard similar complaints so if you want it changed then I would suggest a more organised and concerted aproach is required. If you are serious about this then try running a pole, get some numbers and see if you can't set the ball rolling.
If you really don't like something or it appears unfair in your opinion then fix it don't just moan!!!!!
Just one other thing, I started a post using a deliberatly biggoted stand point and the comeback reiterated the point that there is no argument behind the standpoint of 'my way is better than yours'. There is room for all and room for improvement!

[Karen]

Much as I would love to try and change the field archery world in the UK I am afraid that it is beyond me to take this on - I live in France and shoot here, for French teams normally, and so I don't think that I could have any effect whatsoever on the problems I see. I just find it very hard to get anyone here to take the British archery scene seriously - the reputation of the gnas is not too good here as they have refused to consider sending any archers to either of the World 3di Championships so far (a new fita initiative (gnas are fita affiliated?)) . The efaa however has a much better name and they have some very good well known archers - the IFAA clubs here travel all over and some of them did go to Scotland for the big meet a few years back.

I am not just having a moan - maybe I'm trying to encourage a bit of healthy criticism so that maybe someone will be inspired not to take NO for an answer every time that the gnas or any other body does something that seems stupid, illogical or unfair !

However - I started this thread to tell you about an event that I think will be one of the best around next year - a good time will be had by all and I look forward to meeting all who are brave enough to venture across the Channel - you won't regret it !!

[robtattoo]

Count me there Karen!