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WFTF
World Field Target Federation
World Championships 2004
at the Military Training Ground
23-25th July, Ebern, Germany

 

   Thanks to friends in FT  
 

We had a very successful World Championships in Ebern, Germany, in 2004, and
I want to thank my friends from the FT community in Europe and the USA. It was good to meet those of you from Leipzig 2000, 2001 & 2002 and from Ebern 2003 again - good friends from Germany, The Netherlands and Poland!

It was also good finally to meet George from Greece, after much e-mailing and calling to do with the founding of HAFTA, also Mario from Belgium, and to renew friendships with Ray & Hans from the USA (they helped us to finish roping the Worlds courses in 2001 in England) and also Andy and Arne from Norway

Some of my contacts were made when I researched the FT scene on the continent for articles published in Shooting Sports and Gun Mart in 2001-2002.  It may seem unusual for me to help with the World Championships in Germany - but I was keeping a promise made a long time ago.  I did little but advise from afar but after we arrived at the ground it was seven days of hard work - but it was fun!

I have worked on a few things in FT including a new insurance scheme in the UK that I hope was useful. When working for any sport there can be politics. As a good friend said recently, it should always be possible to find solutions between gentlemen. Sadly, not all shooters are gentlemen and their politics can be harmful

After certain politics, some good people left the sport in the UK - some were local club members and some had cleared World Championship courses. Some were in a manufacturer's team and last year, the manufacturer decided not support a team. This year, other manufacturers followed suit and the Constructors Championship was not contested in the UK. These politics have not enriched the sport

I must thank friends in another arena for support and encouragement - Hunter FT. This was an emerging sport when I was BFTA Secretary.  I put it on the agenda for one meeting. I knew little about it but hoped it would be accepted within the BFTA. It could have been run by the BFTA members already running it. Unfortunately, this did not happen and now there is a new organisation for HFT

Life is strange. I might still be BFTA Secretary but for the local politics, sitting comfortably on my rear end and not laying in the mud. At my age, getting up after a prone shot is tiresome! Various ideas used in HFT would have made a difference in FT. Also, relations with the manufacturers could have been better. HFT and its growing following could have been under the BFTA banner but for a lack of vision. Also, I would not have been invited to become an Official Organiser for UKAHFT and, after Ebern, invited to help with a major European FT event at Bisley

I have suggested that the other countries pay attention if their members want to try HFT. It is better for FT and HFT shooters to be united than divided. Results for nine national events in each discipline in the UK in 2004 show there were 829 FT entries and 1253 HFT entries - 51% more in HFT in just its second year. HFT is clearly more popular this year than FT at national level. I do not know what this means nor where it will lead, but no doubt it will be discussed. This is something FT countries  should bear in mind for the future of the sport in their own country

I hope you have enjoyed this web site. It is difficult to collate all the photos into one long sequence so I simply took the photos from different contributors and had a little fun presenting them on their own pages for your enjoyment

Finally, due to circumstances to do with the politics and the passing of years, I will be doing less for the sport from now on so, for now, until we perhaps meet again, "Auf Wiedersehen"

Keith Ryan
Plymouth UK
1 November 2004

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