The International Jugger Blog

1. Ok, first things first - just what is the International Jugger Council?

It's an assembly of representatives from most jugger countries, designed to get to know the realities of all jugger communities around the world, and then work together to set and accomplish common goals.

2. But why isn't this an International Jugger Federation?

Well, mostly because we're not ready yet. National communities rarely maintain contact with each other, many do not have a legal organization within their own borders, and we're basically not used to having a superior body over all of us. This Council, for now, will only be an 'unofficial' forum (as in, we will not register it anywhere yet) to discuss common issues and pave the way for an actual federation in the next years. We need to know the situation first, then we can research how to grow.

3. What is the purpose of the Council then?

First and foremost, to get to know each other's situations and points of view on jugger. Then we can start building a common project (i.e., an international competition system, with one ruleset, one refereeing system, etc.), helping each other grow (i.e., supporting the creation of national associations, providing support materiel, etc.) and setting our sights on whatever beneficial goals we come up with.

4. If the Council is supposed to make some important decisions, why does every country get the same number of representatives and votes?

On one hand, because the point of this assembly is to hear out the voices of every country, not to drown them away by giving more votes to the 3 biggest countries than to the other 20+ smaller ones. On the other hand, if most of the attending countries did want to get a voting share proportional to their player population, we'd need to sit down, discuss and vote anyway to agree on how to make the census first. Remember that the Charter is not set into stone - if the representatives want to change it and the majority agrees, then we'll change it.

5. Have you ever tried this voting system before?

Yes, this process was originally tested in the Jugger Alliance of the Americas. Giving constituents sufficient and clearly defined timeframes for discussing and voting issues has proven fruitful there and we're confident it will work here too, provided the representatives consult their communities' opinion in time, of course. We're open to suggestions, nevertheless!

6. My country's jugger community is pretty small and young compared to others. What happens if we don't feel ready to vote on any issue?

You can just decide to abstain. We recommend paying attention to the debates anyway, in order to learn more about topics and issues you might have to deal with in the future as you grow.

7. Can any jugger organization apply to join the Council?

Yes! As long as they can speak for the whole country (that includes agreements between independent clubs to create a single representation), they're welcome. We request applying organizations to tell us their legal status as a kind of poll - you can just answer that you haven't finished (or even started) the necessary legal procedure to become an officially recognised association in your country. This is so because we know many groups and clubs are still beginning to take those steps, and we need to hear their voices in any case. We'll do our best to help them finish that process in the near future.

8. My country's main organization/s decided not to join yet. Can we learn what's going on at the meetings anyway?

Absolutely - the meetings will take place in a public Discord server. The Council's channel allows any member to listen and read, but not talk or write, so you can follow the discussions without interrupting the official spokespeople. If you want to pose a question, suggestion or opinion to the Council, you can use another channel called #open-discussion.

9. Suppose a majority of jugging countries agree on making an international competition system - what do you think will happen then?

Well, that's something most of us are really looking forward to, as it will promote tournament circuits around Europe, North and South America, Oceania, and in time, all over the world! For starters, once these circuits are established, we'll set up a World Ranking where everyone can participate (for which JTR would be a great basis), and then we'll probably sit down and decide a common set of rules and safety measures for those tournaments so we all play with the same standards. This will not mean all the other rulesets will be forbidden, quite the contrary; we do not wish other playstyles and traditions to dissapear, and every organization is of course free to play by their rules of choice at their national leagues and championships.

10. What are the roles of the President, Secretary, and their proxies?

The President acts as a sort of master of ceremonies - he/she gathers suggestions for the agenda, calls the meetings, and directs the Board (made up of President, Vice-president, Secretary, Vice-secretary, and Committee leaders). He/she does not have a quality vote, but the Committees answer to him/her. As for the Secretary, he/she's in charge of both keeping the national representatives' personal data safe and writing down the meetings' proceedings for later public release.

11. How would the Council work after the constituent session?

Once the Council is convened and a Board elected, the President will have to ask the assembled representatives what projects we should work on for the next few years (i.e., the aforementioned international competition system, a compilation of useful teaching material, common safety standards, maintaining official social media profiles for the Council...). Then volunteers will be grouped in Committees and charged with working on those goals, reporting regularly to the President. Once they've got a proposal ready for debate, the President will include it in the agenda and have it voted by all representatives in the next meeting, and the results will be shared via official channels.

12. Alright, 'nuff said - how can I join the Council's Discord server?

Follow this link: https://discord.gg/jXqhcYu. Once inside, go to #role-assignment and react to the different messages in order to get your member roles. Remember to read the server rules!

I hope this post cleared up some doubts! If it didn't, please comment here, via our official email (juggerinternational@gmail.com) on Jugger Worldwide or at the Discord channel, and we'll do our best to solve your riddles.

Best regards,

Arturo Pérez Amores