Independent Board of Muay Thai Officials


Over the last several months several experienced UK based judges and referees have been looking to form an independent board of officials in an attempt to further improve judging and refereeing here in the UK.

We feel that, while officiating has improved in recent years, it could be improved still further with the coordinated effort of an independent group. Recent events have given us an incentive to move things forward more quickly than originally planned.

We feel there are numerous benefits to forming a board such as this:

1. As an independent group issues can be dealt with through the board rather than holding sanctioning bodies or promoters responsible.

2. Careful monitoring of officials can be implemented more easily.

3. Full training and annual assessment of officials will be driven by the board.

4. Correct scoring, rules and regulations will be an integral part of training.

5. Officials will be monitored to ensure consistency and professionalism.

6. A pool of professionally trained and assessed Referees and Judges will be available for all Muay Thai shows and any promoter who promotes Muay Thai.

I am therefore pleased to announce, with immediate effect, the formation of the IBMTO - The Independent Board of Muay Thai Officials.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Independent Board of Muay Thai officials (IBMTO) is to facilitate the development of the art of Muay Thai.

It strives to do this by:

1. Monitoring, interpreting and applying the rules of Muay Thai consistently, fairly and in keeping with the spirit of the sport.

2. Supporting the training, assessment and welfare of Muay Thai officials.

3. Supplying quality Muay Thai officials to promoters and organisations.

4. Educating all stakeholders (including fighters, coaches, promoters and spectators) on the rules of Muay Thai and their application.

STRUCTURE

The IBMTO will be tiered as follows:

IBMTO DIRECTORS
IBMTO SENIOR BOARD MEMBER
IBMTO NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE
IBMTO AREA REPRESENTATIVE
IBMTO OFFICIAL

IBMTO DIRECTORS

We have 11 directors on board these are (alphabetically):

Paul Beaty
Shaun Boland
Dean James
Jompop Kiatphontip
Tony Myers
Parnpetch Rirom
Venit Kaewmala (Prathet)
Darren Phillips
Chris Podesta
Liam Robinson
Jesse Saunders

It is the board directors’ responsibility to ensure the professional running and structure of the IBMTO and through democratic voting to implement changes and improvements in addition to overseeing the training and assessment of officials.

As an independent body our officials would be free to officiate on any show sanctioned by any group that the officiating organisation deemed credible, we will deal with our own business and not have to report to any governing body.

The IBMTO will be conveying our first board meeting in the coming weeks and we will be formally contacting show promoters and sanctioning bodies.

If you are interested in becoming an official or wish to apply for a position within the IBMTO please contact me, Tony Myers or Darren Phillips in the first instance.

We will be setting up an official web-site but of course this will take time, so please be patient.

I expect quite a few questions will follow this announcement and we will strive to answer them on here or you can contact me on my E-Mail below.

SHAUN
Shaun Boland
IBMTO Director
Shaun.muaythai@gmail.com