The actual commemorative plate of the 2nd International Referees Seminar following the 2nd World Taekwondo Championships at Kukkiwon in Seoul, Korea in 1975.The eventThe referee seminar was held at Kukkiwon in late August 1975, immediately around the time of the 1975 World Taekwondo Championships.Dates & scopeSources record the 2nd International Tae Kwon Do Referee Seminar taking place August 22–23, 1975 at Kukkiwon (the World Taekwondo Headquarters).Participation & results
The seminar drew a large international turnout about 218 applicants from 29 countries.Of those applicants, 87 people passed the qualification test and were awarded (third-class) international referee certificates. This seminar was a key step in professionalizing and standardizing refereeing for international competition.Why it matteredThe mid-1970s were a formative era for modern Taekwondo competition rules and governance: the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) had just been established a couple years earlier (1973), Kukkiwon was functioning as the global headquarters, and seminars like this created the first widely accepted international referee standards and certification pathways. That helped make future World Championships and later Olympic competition consistent and fair.
The plate holds a special meaning for this writer Gerard Robbins because I was fortunate to qualify to compete in the 2nd World Taekwondo Championships at that time as a member of the first Official U.S.A. National Taekwondo Team. Members of that historic team included Bill Felton, Dennis Robinson, Terrance Watson, Clark Murphy, Bob Phillips, Gary Mule and John Holloway.