First goal for any FCI Commission for Flyball is always to get all noses to point in the same direction, which is never obvious. Once everybody can agree on a unanimous line, most countries see the opportunity of generally approved guidelines and regulations. For the first two meetings in 2014 and 2015, the Commission tackled the national differences in the applied rules and - after long discussions - agreed on a united set of rules for international flyball. The next hurdle for 2016 was to decide on the specifications for a very first international tournament for flyball.

Nevertheless, at the start of the Commission’s meeting in Prague (CZ), it turned out that especially the method of measuring in the new rules was not completely clear for all countries. Therefore, we started with outlining a clear document titled ‘recommendation on method of ulna measuring’ were the method was clearly described. This document will be published on the FCI website to avoid any kind of misunderstandings on the method.

For the international tournament, the Commission decided that an individual World Championship is not possible, since flyball is strictly a team sport. The Commission decided to describe the guidelines for a Flyball Open World Cup (FOWC), which should be organised every second year. In the meantime, these specifications were published on the FCI website and the Commission hopes to soon receive applications from NCOs, applying to organise the very first FOWC in 2018. Applications should arrive in writing before the next meeting of the Commission, in the summer of 2017.

Edwin Vinken
President of the FCI Commission for Flyball