Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts

Tuesday, 3 April 2007

Jim Fung - IWCA 30th Anniversary Open Day



IWCA 30th Anniversary Open Day - great video of Jim Fung

Memorial Service for Grandmaster Jim Fung

One of the world's best known martial artists and a leading figure in Australia's Chinese business community, Grandmaster Jim Fung, has died in Sydney. Grandmaster Fung, whose International Wing Chun Academy grew from a backyard shed to Australia's largest martial art school, had been fighting cancer for three years.

A special memorial service, marking Grandmaster Jim Fung's contribution to Wing Chun will be held at Sydney Town Hall on Saturday, April 14, 2007. The service will run from 10:30am to 1:00pm. Martial artists from throughout Australasia are traveling to Sydney to attend and pay their last respects. All members of the public are welcome to attend the memorial.

more details

Wednesday, 7 March 2007

UK to ban Samurai Swords

from the UK Telegraph

"The sale of imitation samurai swords could be banned by the end of the year, the Home Office announced today. Importing or hiring the weapons could also be made illegal following a string of samurai sword attacks in recent years.

Breaching the ban, which is targeted at cheap imitation samurai swords rather than the more expensive genuine collectors' items made by licensed swordsmiths in Japan, would result in up to six months in jail and a £5,000 fine."

They cite a number of cases where some nutjob with a replica sword starts brandishing it and freaking people out - so fair enough, find a way to stop any looney on the street using one.

"At present there are 17 weapons, including knuckle-dusters and batons, on the Offensive Weapons Order. The exemptions would be for groups such as the To-ken Society of Great Britain and the British Kendo Association."

but the rub is always how do you provide for legitimate usage - licensing or some club based restrictions.

Realistically I think the boat may have already sailed on this one - I image there are millions of replica swords floating around the UK so at best this will largely be a nuisance for martial artists. Fingers crossed down under authorities don't jump on the bandwagon - there have been a few similar cases here.