Chase Inglalls vs Karim Pahalloo at the Pinnacle Hotel

Last week the reports came out that the City Council of North Vancouver voted to disband the North Vancouver Athletic commission after a year-long trial. Reports have already been published in blogs elsewhere, that North Vancouver City has disbanded the City’s Athletic Commission. Seems that fans of MMA and Martial Arts everywhere still have a lot of work to do off the mat to gain acceptance by both the public and politicos. Counsellor Pam Bookham has expressed her horror after channel surfing and landing upon UFC, calling it ‘… repugnant… barbaric’. Its a pity she feels that way. Brookham has probably never met and talked to a fighter, or a sensei from any of the martial arts gyms in North Van, in whom parents entrust their children to act as good role models, or for that matter ever attended the Tiger Balm Internationals to see the great depth and diversity there is for martial arts in her community…. the one she was elected to represent.

It is likely that the City’s inability to host a pro fight event was little more than filibustering against something they didn’t ‘get’, and didn’t really want to have in their city in the first place.

The existence of the Athletic Commission was made to sanction professional fights in the City, be it for Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, or MMA. The year long existence of the commission was indeed stillborn, having never sanctioned a single pro fight during its short life. Apparently, the City was too preoccupied with the work of sorting out old rules and creating new ones. It is likely that the City’s inability to host a pro fight event was little more than filibustering against something they didn’t ‘get’, and didn’t really want to have in their city in the first place.

The fracas at the end of the night at the Pinnacle probably had very little to do with the decision to kill the commission. In fact such events, being total amateur cards, will be able to continue since there are no pro fights on the card. And as I suggested in my review of the Pinnacle night, with greater support for the work of referees and administration (with something like an athletic commission), such situations will be mitigated so much more easily in the future.

Actually, its pretty repugnant when a politician makes no effort to understand her community and her world beyond what she sees channel surfing. So it will likely only make it a little bit longer, a little bit more effort working together to teach the general public and government officials that we really want MMA and martial arts fighting in our city and province. Pam Brookham is also completely naive when she says that the fighting is ‘barbaric’. Barbaric is something ring and tournament fights can never be, because between fighters there is no real malice, unlike conflict elsewhere in greater society. No Pam, fighters love what they do. For heaven’s sake, most fighters stay in touch over Facebook, pretty much like anyone else, and martial arts programs makes people fit, strong, and responsible.

Links to articles:

CagePotato.com: City of North Vancouver Disbands Athletic Commission, Effectively Blocking MMA Sanctioning by the City.

North Shore News: City of North Vancouver KO’s athletic commission.