Dragon Boat - Organisations, Recognition and Popular Culture

Organisations, Recognition and Popular Culture

The established International Federations for dragon boat sport are the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) and its Continental Federations, the European Dragon Boat Federation (EDBF) and the Asian Dragon Boat Federation (ADBF).

The IDBF is the recognised World Governing Body of Dragon Boat Sport and a Member of the GAISF (the General Association of International Sports Federations) which is part of the Olympic Movement. In being accepted for GAISF Membership, the GAISF Council have ruled that Dragon Boating and Canoeing are separate sports with their own historical and cultural backgrounds and identities.

The ICF (International Canoe Federation) has had a limited interest in Dragon Boat Sport since 2005 (some 3 decades following the start of the modern era of the international sport in Hong Kong), organising an annual Dragon Boat Championship only for the small number of its Member Canoe Federations, approx 10, with an interest in Dragon Boating. Therefore the IDBF classifies ICF Dragon Boating as 'Closed Competition'. Indeed, at the time when the IDBF was being founded in the late 1980s, the then-president of the ICF Sergio Orsi wished the federation organisers well in developing dragon boat racing as a separate entity.

The vast majority of financial and human capital to originate, develop, promote and sustain dragon boat racing on an international level is based within the dragonboat festival community, as pioneered by the mother of all dragon boat festivals, the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Festival. The most significant technical assistance in the early development years back in the mid-1980s came principally from the sport of rowing, but also exceptionally in the case of just a few countries from the sports of canoeing and sailing. It should be noted however that dragon boat activity has and continues to grow worldwide under a widely ranging diversity of complimentary water sport such as clubs for yachting, rowing, sailing, canoeing, waterskiing, and outrigger canoeing.

IDBF member associations or federations have been established in 62 countries or territories, since 1991 (e.g. China DBA, Hong Kong DBA, Chinese Taipei DBA, Macau DBA, Singapore DBA, Australian DBF, United States DBF, Dragon Boat Canada, British DB Racing Association, Italian DBF, German DBA, Swiss DBA, South African DBA, Danish DBA, Chilean DBF, Uganda DBF, Trinidad & Tobago DBA) as well as many others and there are a further 15 other Countries known to the IDBF, with a developing interest in Dragon Boating.

The IDBF, whilst a Member of the GAISF, is not presently an Olympic Federation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) but will be applying for this status when it has the 75 Member Countries or Territories that meet the criteria needed for IOC recognition and inclusion in an Olympic Games. Some National Olympic Committees (NOC) have already accepted Dragon boat national organisation for national membership and the Olympic Council of Asia recognises the Asian Dragon Boat Federation (ADBF) as the IDBF Continental Federation with responsibility for Dragon Boat Sport in Asia.

In China, the originators of dragon boating, there is a clear position that dragon boat sport is not a canoe sport, a position supported by the Chinese Olympic Committee; the GAISF Council and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). Dragon boating, under the Asian DBF is now included in the Asian Games, the East Asian Games, the South East Asian Games, and the Asian Beach Games.

Although dragon boat sport has received wider acceptance from governments, the process of modernisation and urbanisation has had a negative effect on the survival of the traditional community dragon boat, which is owned in China by the patriarchal clan associations in villages around the larger cities. Not only is there the problem of pollution in the rivers, but also the rivers in the villages have been filled and leveled in, so the vivosphere of the traditional dragon boats has been decreasing. An extreme example is the damming of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) which resulted in the flooding of the river canyon where the 'Three Gorges Dragonboat Rally' takes place annually.

In December 2007, China added Duan Wu Jie or Duen Ng Jit (Solar Maximus Festival, a.k.a. dragon boat festival) to her schedule of official national annual holidays.

Over the past 5 decades, a number of countries have issued postage stamps commemorating Qu Yuan and dragon boat competitions in New Zealand (Wellington), Canada (Vancouver), China and Hong Kong SAR, among others.

High profile dragonboaters include HRH Princes William and Harry, who raced dragon boat while students at Eton and HRH Princess William (Kate) who trained as a helm for a women's crew who crossed the English Channel.

The Scouting movement has a "dragon boating badge".

Dragonboating and Olympic torch relays

For the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, a dragonboat club in Sydney ferried a torchbearer & Olympian along a section of the Parramatta River towards the Sydney Olympic Complex. During the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay, a dragonboat ferried the torchbearer on a section of the Shing Mun River in the Shatin district of Hong Kong. Even a winter torch relay featured a dragonboat when the torch was ferried over False Creek in Vancouver during the final leg of the longest Olympic torch relay ever, leading up to the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Games. In fact the multi-media bid presentation to the IOC when the 2010 host city was being voted on included a video clip of the dragonboat festival in that city. This clip was intended to portray the sporting combined with Asian ethnic setting for the eventually-selected city, as the False Creek regatta venue is both the location of the athletes village for the winter games and adjacent to the ethnic Chinese business district or Chinatown of the host city.