The ASOIF Council met on 18 November, 2009 at the IOC for its first meeting since four new Members were elected at the General Assembly at SportAccord Convention in Denver last March. The new members are Pat McQuaid, UCI President and also ASOIF Vice-President; Goran Petersson, ISAF President and newly elected IOC Member; Bob Elphinston, FIBA President; and Serge Bubka, IAAF Vice President.     

Among many general items discussed, including finance matters, different ongoing projects have been reported such as the standard legal documentation for IFs. Reports on the Olympic Games of Singapore 2010 and London 2012 were given, as well as a status update on the post games evaluation of the Beijing Games.

Main key issues discussed and their respective outcomes were also:

1. Summit on Sports Betting & Gaming, Illegal and Irregular Betting and Match-Fixing
Following on from meetings and discussions held last year prior to the 2008 Olympic Games it was decided to organize a major one-day summit in Lausanne during the first half of 2010 to address all aspects of this important issue and decide what actions are appropriate for Olympic Sports and ASOIF.

2. Rugby and Golf
Following the decision of the IOC Session in October to include Rugby 7s and Golf in the Olympic Programme for 2016 Council decided to review the ASOIF Constitution and propose amendments to the General Assembly in April 2010 in Dubai which would allow the two IFs of these sports to become full ASOIF members with immediate effect.

3. Fight Against Doping
The final draft questionnaire for the detailed research project into the rising costs of the fight against doping and compliance with the WADA Code was approved.
The project will proceed with immediate effect and all members will be contacted shortly with further information and support on this matter. The final report will be
presented to the General Assembly in April 2010 and recommendations for reform, aimed at reducing IF costs, will be made subsequently to WADA.
Other matters of concern to our members regarding WADA and its operations were discussed at length and ASOIF Vice-president and UCI President, Pat McQuaid, was confirmed as our new representative on the WADA Executive Committee.

4. Youth Olympic Games 2010, Singapore
It was agreed that the Director in conjunction with the IOC Sports Department would provide a briefing paper on the status of the YOG project from an IF perspective and distribute to all IFs before the end of this year.

5. Olympic Games Revenues
The process to review the distribution of the IF share of the Olympic Games revenues following the Games of London 2012 was initiated. Council will consider a position paper on this at its next meeting and consult members subsequently with a view to reaching a final agreement at the ASOIF General Assembly in 2011 in London.
Regarding the distribution of Olympic Games revenues amongst all stakeholders Council decided to re-emphasize to the IOC President its request for urgent action in reviewing the current system and a progress report will be delivered to the members at the 2010 General Assembly.

6. Autonomy of Sport
A serious issue for an increasing number of ASOIF members is that of government and other third party interference in the operations and procedures of International Federations, National Federations/Associations and NOCs. It was
agreed to prepare model clauses for IFs to insert in their statutes to give greater constitutional strength for actions by IFs when confronting these cases. These will be proposed to the members at the 2010 General Assembly.

7. IF Recognition at Olympic Games
Following the introduction of the additional IF recognition at the respective venues during the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 it was agreed that the size and visibility of this IF recognition must be reviewed not only for London 2012 but for the YOG in Singapore in 2010.
It was further agreed to set up a small working group within Council to review the allocation of free and purchased tickets for the IFs for London 2012 and submit a proposal to the IOC.

8. IF Forum
The SportAccord Convention, owned jointly by ASOIF, AIOWF and SportAccord/GAISF, under the leadership of Anna Hellman, was sincerely thanked for their great help in delivering another successful Forum, which was lead by ASOIF on two themes, Youth and IF Revenues, both of great current interest to the Olympic IFs. Next year is the turn of SportAccord/GAISF to take the lead but in 2011 the Forum will once again come under ASOIF control. Members are
urged to begin thinking early of proposals for the two key themes for 2011 as the preliminary planning for that event will commence at the end of next year with the establishment of the IF steering group.

ASOIF will hold its next Council in February next year (Vancouver) and the General Assembly will be held in April 2010 at the SportAccord Convention in Dubai.