BJJ Competitors in Manitoba, Canada are currently frustrated by new government regulations that are planning to mandate both a yearly fee for the privilege of competing and that IBJJF rules at used at all tournaments. Although the changes are not currently in effect, they were introduced in the Combative Sport Amendment Act (Bill 40), introduced in Spring 2023 according to CBC Canada. The news outlet spoke to Glen Simard, the Minister responsible for sport, and he said that they came up with the idea of mandating IBJJF rules by speaking to ‘a number of players in the field’ and this was the resolution that they came up with based on that feedback.
Naturally, a specific ruleset being mandatory would be incredibly harmful to the growth of BJJ in Manitoba. The first Canadian ADCC Open was held in 2023 and with this restriction in place, that promotion would simply avoid staging a tournament in Manitoba. Not only is that one less opportunity for residents to compete, but it’s also fewer visiting competitors making the journey to the province as well. It’s also worth considering professional grappling events, as Fight 2 Win only hosted their first event in Canada this year. The vast majority of promotions have their own specific rulesets and without the ability to use them, they would simply choose neighbouring provinces over Manitoba instead.
Although the mandatory ruleset alone would be frustrating enough for both competitors and tournament organizers alike, the yearly fee is another big problem. The Manitoba Combat Sports Commission wants to introduce a $30 (CAD) yearly fee for a license to compete, although it doesn’t appear as though competitors would get anything in return for that. This an obvious financial barrier in an already-expensive sport and although it’s not a prohibitively large sum of money, it doesn’t seem entirely fair for competitors to have to pay a yearly fee in order to have the privilege of then paying further entry fees to local tournaments.
The main problem with both of these plans in Manitoba is that neither of these changes appear to be necessary for BJJ. Countries all around the world have dozens of regular tournaments under different rulesets without competitors paying the government for a competitor license, and those BJJ scenes are thriving. There’s no problem there that a yearly license would really solve, and there’s no logical reason why all tournaments would need to have the same format. With BJJ in particular, one of it’s biggest strengths is the ability to innovate and test new ideas without having to run things by governing bodies in the first place.