Hope all is well with everyone back home, been reading this thread and felt like putting my “2 cents” in!

The TBANZ is obviously going through hard times; it has been for a couple of years now but this is a typical cycle in New Zealand. Personally I feel development of decent organisations in New Zealand follow a “saw tooth” path, they develop so far then everything seems to fall apart.

The TBANZ was once really strong and well supported. I remember when it was promoted by Brett D’Arth (Auckland), Myself (Wanganui), Stuart Chambers (Palmerston North), Ben Ahipene (Dannevirke), Barry Page (Kapiti), Mark Hampton (Wellington), Martin Sterling (Lower Hutt), Malcolm Harley (Masterton ), Kerry Sidwell (Nelson), Issac ? (Nelson) and Geoff Aitken (Christchurch). I think Dave Hitchens (Porirua) also had some TBA titles on a couple of his shows and also Brian Twoomy (Tauranga). That’s around 13 people involved with promotions with the TBANZ plus many more that were members but didn’t promote. Also back in the very early stages it was promoted more extensively in Auckland. It has been a while since one organisation was promoted by that many people in our country.

New organisations start all the time in New Zealand and everyone is happy and working together while more and more people join, BUT, as the membership grows the greater the chance of conflict between people. New Zealand is not a big country and often the conflicts that result in the down fall of a new organisation are the same ones that created the down fall of the one before it. Personally I feel we will keep going down this “saw tooth” road unless people make a better effort to resolve their differences.

A group of people will never all agree with the best path forward but if we keep turning our back and walking away every time something doesn’t go the way we want we will only progress so far. If people are not happy, why not get the support of others and show up to the annual meeting and vote for change. The TBANZ, if I remember correctly, only cost $50 a year for membership renewal which was all that was required for the right to vote.

The TBANZ was once a strong, well supported organisation. I hope those people who were once involved can swallow their pride, lay it on the table and resolve their differences to enable it to continue to promote Thai Boxing in New Zealand. It also needs to be acknowledged that there are other organisations who aim to do the same thing; I feel the TBANZ needs to try and work with them as best it can as New Zealand isn’t big enough to go down our own little paths. LET’S NOT WASTE ALL THE HARD WORK DONE BY THOSE BEFORE US. I will be coming back to New Zealand in a few years and wish to pick up from where I left off and keep promoting the sport I love. I just hope there is a good organisation and group of people who do their best to work together to make this a little easier.

Another issue which I think is hindering the development of the sport nationally is a clear division between Auckland and the rest of the country. A couple of year’s back I posted on this message board the TBANZ title holders. Several people expressed concerns about yet another sanctioning body in New Zealand, I noted all these comments came from Aucklander’s. This made it completely obvious to me how detached Auckland can be from the remainder of the country. As I have pointed out above, at the time we had about 13 people promoting TBANZ so how could it be hardly recognised by the majority of the Auckland Thai Boxing community? Auckland seems to have a large amount of sanctioning bodies where the remainder of the country has only a hand full, possibly a need to look in your back yard before venturing out the gate! I have said this not to criticise but to point out a clear problem that I think needs to be addressed.

Its nice to see Rex Redden, Lance Scheranke, Gordon Pie, Oliver T(sorry can’t spell), Ngakau Spain, just to mention a few, travel to Auckland to fight but how many Auckland clubs support shows in the rest of the country? I have only seen a handful of Auckland fighters over the last few years. I also read the thread earlier this year when Dave Hitchens looked at a “Wellington vs Auckland” show. He put down a number of Wellington fighters and asked for some Auckland fighter’s names, did he even get one offer? I know this event was postponed and wish Dave the best of luck in trying to get a response out of Auckland if he re-schedules.

That’s about it, I feel like I just wrote a book! Not intending to offend anyone here, just pointing out how I see things to try and get useful discussion going. I know that many will disagree with me but look at my profile to see who I am; at least I don’t hide behind an alias.