24 Jul 2009 at 08:59 | Published by: JJM | Views: 8945 | News search

Keith Kellard in Canegrate, Italy.  (Photo by Kevin Botto 2007)

2009 was hoped to be a breakthrough year for British minigolf getting active in other playing systems than MOS (adventure golf and crazy golf), with WMF-funded training camps in Austria and in Great Britain.

But one of the main goals of the WMF-funded project, to see a full British team at World Championships 2009 in Odense, will not become reality. Keith Kellard is the only British player who has confirmed his plans to play the tournament, with Austrian Willy Bauer as his coach.

Only some weeks ago British players were still planning to send a full team to the competition, which was also one of the conditions for receiving money from WMF. Economical support was optimistically expected from private sponsors and from the British Minigolf Association.

One player retreated from the team because of medical reasons, some sponsors changed their attitude as it seemed that Britain will not get a full team, and the conservative wing of British Minigolf Association leadership promised only as much economical support as is customary in any typical year, while the team candidates had hoped for an increase in funding.

As the negotiations about funding delayed further and further, the players started feeling insecure about their travel plans, and finally the entire project of a British team to Odense collapsed in a sour atmosphere, with criticism exchanged between the two sides of British minigolf politics, the conservative supporters of traditional British playing systems and the liberal supporters of international playing systems.

One British player will be seen in Odense anyway, which is more than what 40% of WMF member countries will do on the international scene during this year 2009.

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