IFAF Postpones Flag World Championship Amid Israel Flight Bans
IFAF Executive Board Votes to Postpone Flag Football World Championships
[su_dropcap]W[/su_dropcap]ednesday the IFAF released a statement explaining the postponement of the IFAF Flag World Championship that were to be held in Jerusalem, Israel August 12th – 15th.
After the recent developments with governmental travel advisories and airlines suspending flight operations to Tel Aviv, Israel, it is the decision by the IFAF Executive Board, that the Flag World Championship planned for August 12th to August 15th in Jerusalem, Israel are postponed due to circumstances beyond IFAF’s control.
With uncertainty of flight operations to the hosting country and its effects to teams possibilities to arrive to the tournament with less than three weeks prior to tournament start, it is not possible to continue organizing an event worthy of IFAF World Championship.
IFAF will make next announcement regarding restaging of the tournament on Sunday 27th of July.
FLIGHTS BANS AMID GAZA CONFLICT
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration extended its flight ban to Israel’s Tel Aviv airport for an additional 24 hours on Wednesday as European airlines canceled their flights amid fighting in the region.
The FAA says it will continue to monitor and evaluate the situation at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, where a Hamas rocket exploded nearby on Tuesday.
Germany’s Lufthansa and Air Berlin extended their Tel Aviv flight cancelations through Thursday and Air France said it was suspending its flights “until further notice.” Lufthansa said Wednesday that the decision to cancel its flights applies also to its subsidiaries Germanwings, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines. In all, 20 flights from Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and Brussels are being cancelled.
Poland’s state airline, LOT, also said it suspended all its flights to Israel from Warsaw until Monday.
Among other European airlines, KLM, Alitalia and Scandinavian Airlines also canceled flights Tuesday and Wednesday, but did not immediately announce their plans for Thursday flights.
British Airways, however, said Wednesday it has not canceled any of its Tel Aviv flights and had no immediate plans to do so. The airline would not answer questions about how it had made its decision to keep flying while others were canceling, citing security reasons.
TEAM AND PLAYER SAFETY CONCERNS
Earlier today the Flag World Championships posted this photo of the champions trophies on their Facebook page. The comments on this post from many international fans and participants display the well-placed concerns for the safety of holding the tournament.
Hopefully, the IFAF will come to a viable solution for this popular event. This will release another statement on Sunday, July 27th.
Below is the trailer for the 2014 IFAF Flag World Championship:
[vsw id=”ZQp3MieTmcw” source=”youtube” width=”620″ height=”360″ autoplay=”no”]
Sources Reuters & www.ifaf.org
