20 October Update
Newsflash from NZIFBB regarding athletes competing at Country of Origin, Sydney 24 October 2010
 

Letter says
 
To all NZIFBB Members

Dear valued members of the New Zealand International Federation of Bodybuilders:

Any NZIFBB athlete who is considering competing at the Australian Nationals 'Country of Origin' without formal consent of the NZIFBB Federation will loose his/hers membership status immediately and will be suspended from our federation for two consecutive years

The NZIFBB has not approved the Country of Origin's class, therefore you have not qualified through the proper IFBB Federation of your country in which is deemed illegal

If you have any queries regarding this matter, please do not hesistate to contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sincerely
Johanna Moses
Secretary  






17 Aug: Newsflash from Terry Hills
 "Following a long phone conversation I have just had with Moe El Moussawi (NZFBB President), Moe has asked me to clarify two important decisions: 

1. He has reconsidered his recent decision to prevent anyone who competes in any of the three planned IFBB South Pacific / Oceania events in Christchurch (Sept 25), Tauranga (Sept 25) and Auckland (Oct 9) from competing at Nationals. He would like to make it clear that any competitor who competes in ANY event not sanctioned by the IFBB will NOT lose their right to compete at Nationals. This, of course, is on the proviso that they qualify for Nationals in the traditional way i.e. place top-3 in their class at any official NZFBB regional event during the designated qualifying period (i.e. from the 2009 River City Classic through to the 2010 Waikato Muscle Tournament on Oct 9 for qualification to the 2010 NZFBB Nationals).

2. Moe also stated that the rule which forces NZFBB members who compete in any non-IFBB sanctioned event (e.g. NABBA NZ, NABBA/WFF, INBA etc) to automatically lose their financial membership has now been removed. i.e. if you are a current NZFBB member and you compete in a non-IFBB sanctioned event, your financial membership will now be retained for the full 12 month period.

Hopefully I've worded these to make them sufficiently clear in their intention. The bottom line is that competitors who either already have or who plan to qualify for the NZFBB Nationals can compete for another organisation without fear of losing their qualification and/or their financial membership prior to the 12 month expiry." 


9 August: NZFBB Committee Member Brian McFarlane resigns from NZFBB committee.
We have received news that Brian, an NZFBB competitor, chairman of judges and contest organiser, has resigned from his position with the NZFBB citing his increased family commitments as his driving force to step down from the committee.

2 August 10:
Open letter from NZFBB
  (right)






Dear All,

NZFBB UPDATE

Statement from Grahame Fong
Past president NZFBB
Past Legal Advisor NZFBB

Following a meeting held in Sydney on Monday 19 April 2010, attended by Moe Elmoussawi, Mark Stewart, Paul and Carole Graham and Grahame Fong, and subsequent discussions, the following matters were agreed:


  

       1.   The AGM will now be brought forward from August and will be held in Auckland
             no later than the 30 June 2010.

2.    As the AGM has been brought forward the proposed informal meeting and the Special General Meeting formally sought by some members are both now redundant and will be dispensed with.

3.   Elections for all NZFBB offices will be held as part of the AGM.  ALL NZFBB members may stand for any elected position(s).

4.   Grahame Fong will prepare the Notice of AGM and a robust process will be put in place to ensure that all current NZFBB members receive notice of the meeting. Grahame will also prepare the forms for giving notice for motions for the AGM and the nomination forms.

5.   Proper procedures will be in place for voting for the elections and all motions tabled at the meeting for which proper notice has been given. Grahame will formulate the procedures, which will be announced at a later date.

6.   All parties will respect the election results and resolutions adopted at the AGM.

7.   A number of other disputes and issues have been addressed and agreement reached. The principal parties to the current disputes/issues, namely Moe Elmoussawi and Mark Stewart have agreed to a truce and no current or new disputes will be debated in public pending the AGM.  Each of them will encourage their supporters to also respect the truce.

8.   The Pan Pacific contest (previously named the South Pacific) will be held on the 8 May 2010. An announcement will be made shortly on two other events planned for between now and the date of the AGM.

Grahame Fong
21 April 2010



Ever since the NZ Pro show 20 March I have been anticipating an informal chat with NZFBB President Moe ElMoussawi to discuss the show and how we could move forward. My particular area of concern is the communication between the NZFBB and its public, and of course event management of its shows.
I finally had that meeting on 17 April with Moe and Vice President Bronwyn Inglis whom I've met for the first time.

double click on the image to enlarge
left: the NZFBB requested that I put this letter from the IFBB on site.
Go Figure publishes this letter to keep everyone up to date on the NZFBB situation. As usual we remain impartial on political matters.


Over coffee we discussed how we could have better communication lines as in recent times there has been lack of information coming from the Federation on various matters.  We all agreed that there has been a communication breakdown and both Moe and Bronwyn would like to develop closer relations with not only Go Figure, but other media and the bodybuilding community. In future the NZFBB will be more open to releasing information about contests and any information that athletes need to know.

The most pressing question I had for Moe and Bronwyn was "how will future NZFBB shows be run on time and efficiently?" Considering that past Auckland contests were delayed from between 1-2hr each time, something needs to be done so that athletes and audiences aren't frustrated and left waiting. 

To this, Moe says he has put in place an events' management team that will be in charge of each show and he will not have any hands on role at any contest.  In the past, he agrees he has had a hard time delegating duties and is often doing everything, which has led to shows running late.  He assures me his team will be in charge of the entire prior set up and organizing of the show on contest day.

We also discussed the issue of compulsory posing in the figure class and whether the NZFBB is continuing with NPC style posing where only quarter turns are required.

Moe said athletes who want to do the posing can still do so.  Except the class will be called ‘Fitness' and the previously known 'Body Fitness' is now called ‘Figure'. In essence it's just a swap around of names. This is to keep in line with what Figure is known as in the U.S.A. So athletes who don't want to do posing can still compete in the ‘Figure' class, and those who like posing can still do so in ‘Fitness'.  The figure class can just compete with a 2 piece, as only the Pros need a 1piece and a 2 piece.

Both Bronwyn and Moe were very open to suggestions and we ended the meeting on a positive note with Bronwyn and Moe both looking to improve the contests and to disseminate information to the bodybuilding public, Go Figure and also on its own website on a more regular basis.

The proof will be in the pudding so to speak and I look forward to seeing the South Pacific Champs on May 8 at the Langham Hotel under the new event management team's regime.

Lisa, Go Figure
18 April 10


  Report on NZFBB Members Meeting held on 9 April 2010
The meeting, which was chaired by Mark Stewart, was attended by approximately 20 NZFBB members.  Grahame Fong, who is a qualified lawyer and a past president of the NZFBB, assisted the meeting with legal and practical advice. 

He had not planned on attending but a number of those present thought that it would be helpful if he was present and he was phoned immediately prior to the meeting and requested to attend and assist, which he did.


Prior to the main meeting, a preliminary meeting was convened by some of the senior members and during that meeting a conference call was made to Paul Graham who is the IFBB Vice President for the Oceania region.  Paul confirmed that the meeting was called on his advice and instructions and he confirmed that he fully supported Mark Stewart. 

It was clear from the views expressed at the meeting that there is a strong desire by many people to deal with the current NZFBB situation as quickly as possible. That was tempered by the overriding consensus of those present that all actions had to be done properly and legally, and that there should be no cutting corners for expediency.

Following a lengthy meeting it was agreed that as a first step Moe Moussawi will be invited to meet with two representatives nominated by those present, to discuss concerns and to try and work out a way forward that would end the increasing negativity.  The two nominated persons are Stephen Papps and Esther Tofilau.

Further actions were agreed but these will be implemented only if required and further decisions, if necessary, will be considered only if Moe does not attend the meeting, or if a meeting is held but nothing is resolved

All official notices and announcements from the members present at today's meeting are to be approved by a majority of a sub-committee comprising Mike Debenham, Stephen Papps and Darrel Shumaker.

Feedback to this report, and future news, is welcome but those present at the meeting also agreed that it was inappropriate for any individual to get into online debates, with views that may be seen as those of the NZFBB, and therefore any comment from any  individual will be his or her own personal view and not a collective one.

All interested parties will be kept fully informed through the (new) www.nzfbb.co.nz, Go Figure, Body By Jo and NZ Bodybuilding sites and through other appropriate avenues.

10 April 10

 


 

Go Figure's Report of the Meeting

9 Apr:
It was like a who's who of the movers and shakers in the bodybuilding scene at the meeting today.  There was Mark Stewart, former President of NZFBB, who I give big props to for being brave and deciding to do something about the situation within the current NZFBB administration. Mark says he doesn't want to be the President or even a show promoter as his mission at present is developing the South Pacific region for the IFBB. He just ‘wants to clean up the mess' and ‘stop the infighting'.  One of his tasks today was to set up an informal  sub committee to manage the affairs of the NZFBB until a permanent structure is in place. 


Assisting the meeting by special invitation was founding member and former NZFBB President Grahame Fong.  Grahame, a lawyer, was there as an objective observer and adviser on various aspects of the constitution.  He reiterated throughout the meeting that whatever came out of the meeting today had to be part of the solution rather than being a further part of the problem.

Other notable athletes/administrators include Kaye O'Neill, Darrel Schumaker, Esther Tofilau, Mike Debenham, Terry Hills, Allen Stubbington, Mike Kingsnorth, Jo Stewart, Steve Papps (competitor and General Manager of Harbour Fitness), Keith Jolly (who filmed the entire meeting), Geordie from NZBB, around 6 interested NZFBB members and of course myself were there to discuss the avenues this committee could take to ensure the retention and continued happiness of current NZFBB members.  

Over the 4 hour period (yes 4 hrs!) there was a good team spirit amongst those present wanting to make a positive move for the athletes.  Of course a lot was discussed in this meeting but due to the sensitive nature of some of the discussions it's not appropriate for me to reveal them.

One thing I can tell you is that the sub committee of Darrel Schumaker, Steve Papps and Mike Debenham have been given the responsibility and authority by those present at the meeting to deal with the issues that will arise in the upcoming weeks.


An official report will be released shortly and I will post on this site along with any other news that may arise.

Lisa, Go Figure
9 April 10
NB I was there as an impartial person witnessing the meeting and not as member of the NZFBB.

 

1 Apr: Since the NZ Pro Figure show on 20 March there has been many developments and intiatives implemented by the executive and interested members of the NZFBB regarding the current organisation of the NZFBB.

Without going into the nitty gritty, it has come to the conclusion that a Caretakers Committee meeting has been called for 9 April at the Quality Inn Hotel in Auckland. The committee will be led by Mark Stewart and include Mike Debenham, Terry Hills, Darryl and Kaye O'Neill.

NZFBB members and specially invited guests can attend this meeting.


Mark said "This meeting is not a voting meeting but purely to discuss 2010 NZFBB/IFBB Event Calendar and set the AGM to elect people to run the Federation but for now we are just Caretakers/Subcommittee.
We will be looking at 4 Regional plus the NZ Nationals. That will be all the Events will be looking at for 2010."

Date: Friday 9 April 2010              Time: 12 noon.
Venue: Quality Inn Hotel, 465 Great South Rd, Grey Lynn, Akl
 

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