‘Snowboard’ Not to be Added to International Ski Federation Name Quite Yet

Member federations of the International Ski Federation (FIS) rejected a proposal to change the organisation’s name at an Extraordinary Congress, which was held online from its headquarters in Oberhofen in Switzerland.

Two new names were put forward – the “International Ski and Snowboard Federation” and “International Snowsports Federation”. However, the organisation would continue to be known by the acronym FIS, regardless of the result.

The first option won the initial round of voting by 57 votes to 51. It was then put up against the current FIS name, with a majority of two-thirds required for the organisation to adopt the change. The current name, the International Ski Federation, received 49 votes (42.6%), whilst the International Ski and Snowboard Federation polled 66 of the 120 available votes – a majority – but as this was only 57.39 per cent of the ballot, the motion was not passed and the FIS officially remains the International Ski Federation.

FIS President Johan Eliasch commented  in a statement, “an important lesson learned today is that there is a desire from our stakeholders that we do a better job of being inclusive of all disciplines in our daily communication and promotion of FIS  and even though the International Ski and Snowboard Federation did not gain the required two-thirds majority, the electorate has spoken quite clearly in terms of its considered views. I think when it comes to both branding and identity, we need to find ways to incorporate snowboarding.”

So watch this space…