The Current State of FISTF?!?

Hey there everybody, I was thinking of getting back into the game seriously after a couple of years playing on and off at my club. So I decided to take a look on the web to check out how the game is doing, so I checked out the FISTF website. The first thing that struck me was the absence of a Discussion Forum, what is the motive behind this ? Before I was quite a frequent poster on the FISTF forum and it was the main thing which kept me in touch with the international scene of the game and informed about any issues which were sprouting up, it was a very useful tool in my opinion for players around the world to discuss openly, voice there concerns and keep informed about competitions and related information. Is the FISTF board concerned about coming under fire of criticism from the players? This reminds me of a book I had once read, George Orwell's Animal Farm, a microcosm of Communist Russia where the 'dictating' pigs ( no pun intended ) ban reading and writing to retain more power and prevent any form of revolt from the other farm animals.

I also found the website very dull and boring full of circulars which are meant to make us look more professional as a sport I guess, however it seems more like browsing through the Law Courts website. Also the results page hasn't been updated since march. I presume that screams professionalism to passers-by.

I generally think the website is a big discouragement to any passers-by who may be interested in taking up the sport/hobby, whatever you want to call it...

After searching about on the internet, I managed to find this forum, and after browsing through a host of different topics, it seems the world of table football is going through abit of controversy at the moment, to say the least. What has the sport come to? No Elections? No communication? NO VINCENT COPPENOLLE? Vincent has done so much for the sport, communication was always at its best, everybody was informed about what was going on in the world of table football, every time I sent him an email regarding something, I got a reply till the next day, at latest. I sincerely hope the sport recovers from this great blow to the head, and I do hope that another board will be elected soon, Silvio Catania is an ambitious man and I do think he wants the best for the sport, but as we say in maltese... Qed Jaghzaq F'l-ilma or for those of you not so fluent in my mothertoungue "he's ploughing through water"..

As for me I think it's best I stick to playing at my club for now, and i sincerely hope someone cleans up this messy situation soon, for the good of the game which we all love =)

kind regards,
il-bidwi.malti

I would also like to add, that from what i have seen, the new FISTF board hasnt done anything apart from what seems to be a number of regulations and legislative work. what is being done to promote the sport? what help is being given to the associations? what is being done to promote the sport among kids? what is the money from the tarriffs being spent on? holidays for the FISTF Bod? i sure hope not..

I am a bit sad about the fact the provisional FISTF BoD isn´t able to communicate to the players world after last weekend´s World Cup.

No statements
No Sports Director
No comments
No calming the waves

That´s really disappointing.

Of course that is disappointing, but I'm much more scared about the Europa League and Champions League.

Heinz

Thossa wrote:I am a bit sad about the fact the provisional FISTF BoD isn´t able to communicate to the players world after last weekend´s World Cup.

No statements
No Sports Director
No comments
No calming the waves

That´s really disappointing.

Its really a big joke, no results yet?? Come on FISTF, put some effort into it. The EL and CL issue is so stupid, its already tough to get a good number of teams to one event and to maybe get some press coverage and promotion let alone having 2 competitions of the same kind, absolutely foolish decision from the part of the FISTF Bod, what were they thinking???