The number of sports associations that have agreed to accept individual membership applications rose to 47 as of Wednesday, the Sports Administration said yesterday.
Memberships were only open to groups prior to the amendment of the National Sports Act (國民體育法), which was promulgated by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Sept. 20.
The new rules require sports associations to revise their organizational rules, hold board elections and accept individual members within six months of the amendment’s promulgation.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Members can now directly participate in the election of association chairmen.
The agency has been accepting individual applications on behalf of different sports associations during the first half of the six-month period to give the associations time to revise their rules.
Wednesday was the last day of the first stage that people can file their applications with the agency.
As of 9pm on Wednesday, 47 of the nation’s 72 sports associations have agreed to take the applications that the agency accepted on their behalf.
A total of 174,596 people have filed for individual memberships, the agency said.
The five sports associations that received the highest number of applications were the Chinese Taipei Swimming Association (19,441), followed by the Chinese Taipei Football Association (19,271), the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association (18,598), the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (11,382) and the Chinese Taipei Golf Association (10,550).
Eight athletes, including women’s world No. 1 badminton player Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎), the nation’s No.1 road and track bicycle racer Hsiao Mei-yu (蕭美玉) and former national volleyball player Huang Pei-hung (黃培閎), have indicated that they are interested in running for board directors to represent athletes in their associations.
Associations are now required to have active or retired athletes comprise at least one-fifth of their board of directors, Sports Administration Director-General Lin Te-fu (林德福) said.
Directors who are athletes can better speak for athletes and protect their interests, he said.
As to the 25 sports associations that have not indicated whether they would accept individual members, Lin said they are still working toward having their organizational rules revised and approved by their boards and members’ assemblies.
For these associations, the deadline would be seven days after their revised organizational rules were available for public view, he said.
With about 110,000 people filing their applications within just one week, there has been speculation that some people joined the associations to help certain members get elected into management positions.
Addressing the allegations, Lin said many interested candidates are likely to wait until the last minute to announce their intention to run for director.
“People planning to run for board directors would mobilize supporters over the Internet, which is inevitable,” he said, adding that such allegations would be difficult to verify.
Asked if the requirement for the associations to accept individual members clashes with FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) rules, Lin said that the Chinese Taipei Football Association would first have the revised organizational rules approved at its members’ assembly.
“The revised rules would then be translated into English and we will have FIFA and AFC comment on them,” he said.
“The association would not hold board elections right away,” he said.
“We respect both the Chinese Taipei Football Association and FIFA. Should the two fail to come to an agreement, we would respect FIFA,” Lin said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS