Tommy Morris, Scotland 7th Dan Chairman of the FMK Referee Committee Chairman of the EKU Referee Committee Chief Instructor of Kobe-Osaka International Below is an interview done with Mr Tommy Morris in January when he was in Sweden for a brief visit in conjunction with the District Championships in the south of Sweden. He also did a weekend referee course prior to the tournament.

Anyone who has been to the World Championships and other international Karate tournaments would have noticed him - a little elderly man dressed immaculately in dark blue blazer and the FMK tie with the FMK badge on the left breast-pocket and seated at the Referees' table. Now and then a referee or judge will run up to the table to ask a question. He is seldom seen on the mat but when he does, one notices that the newly qualified referees work extra hard for his benefit.

The man is Tommy Morris, a 57 year-old Scotsman who has been the Chairman of the EKU (European Karate Union) since 1983 and Chairman of the FMK (then WUKO) since 1987. I had the pleasure and honour of interviewing Mr Morris earlier this year and found him to be a very charismatic, humorous and above all, a man with an extremely high level of intelligence and common sense rarely seen in many of today's instructors. I found Mr Morris to be a

How did you get started with Karate from the very beginning ?
Started in Judo and Jiujitsu in 1953 when I was 14. I did it for six and a half years and then became interested in Karate. I had only heard about it - there were no clubs in Scotland or in Britain at that time. It was something very new at that time and very esoteric , very mysterious and I decided to try and learn this Karate. Of course the only way to do it was to find a book and the only book available at that time was the book written by Mr Nishiyama "Karate - The Art of Empty Hand Fighting". So that was my first real Karate training. I trained by myself for about two years learning the techniques from the book. Then in 1963 I discovered that there was a man in Paris, France, by the name of Henri Plet and that he was teaching Karate in Paris.He was a kind of the father of European Karate in a way. I wrote to him and in 1964 went over to France and had my first Karate instruction and it was the Shotokan style.

I did Shotokan from 1960 until I went to Japan in July 1967. I was there to train for a couple of months; to train in different dojos and with different masters of different styles with no particular style in mind - just to get some experience. It was in Kobe at Sensei Tani's dojo that I became very interested in what they were training. At that time, the style which they were training was called Shukokai. It wasn't very well-known then but later became very famous in Europe. I found that the way they trained was very interesting and I liked it. It was different from Shotokan.When I came home to Europe I decided to change some things. In the beginning we tried to do a kind of half and half and it wasn't easy. I already had a couple of hundred of students then and we gradually changed to Shukokai and Shitoryu.

What drove you to go on and seek more knowledge in Karate and why particularly Karate?
Well, who knows what really drives us to do things but it could be because when I was at school I was quite small for my age and probably the youngest. I had to fight a lot in school and being small I was not very good at it. I didn't like that. My first interest was Jujitsu because it was a martial art in which a smaller man with skill could defend himself against a bigger man. After years of doing it ,and although I enjoyed doing it very much, I just had the strange feeling that there was something more. When I first heard about Karate, I had a feeling, just a feeling, that this was what I needed and this was what I wanted to do. At that time, I had hoped to be at least achieve a brown belt and in 1960 that was considered to be of very high level. And here I am today.

Could you elaborate a little more about your Shitoryu connections after changing from Shotokan ?
I was a member of the Tani-Ha Shitoryu until about 1981 and then my sensei Kimura and I had a difference of opinion - it was not anything big - then I decided it was time to change. In 1983 we were on our own and stayed separated from the Japanese organizations. By that time, I was already a member of the EKU and the WUKO referees' committee and a lot of contact with many Japanese senseis. In reality, all these years the training has been what I have learnt from other people, what I have learnt by myself and what I have applied. I have been able to gain a wider knowledge by being independent because it's easier to learn in that position. This has probably contributed to my knowing all the variations within Shitoryu ,which probably would not have been possible had I been affiliated to only one organization. Since 1991, I head the Kobe-Osaka Karatedo International with affiliates in Australia and South Africa among others.

I have been doing Karate full-time since 1967. I was a photo-process engraver working for a newspaper until that time. I started a dojo in 1963-1964. and by 1966 I already had a full-time dojo but I still kept my ordinary job. After coming back from one my trips to Japan, I decided to take the big plunge of going full-time. By the mid-seventies I had more than 2000 students. It was the biggest dojo in Britain then.

I had also competed - I was in the first European championships match between Britain and France. I fought for Scotland and for Britain.

What does your annual schedule look like then travel-wise ?
I travel to between 15 and 20 countries in a year. Not all of it for EKU or WUKO/FMK. 8-10 times for my own Kobe-Osaka International to train and teach people Karate, things related to Security Organizations. I do maybe 4 or 5 referee courses in a year, and the EKU Junior and Senior and World Cup and World Championships depending on which year.


How did this referee thing get started ?
Having been a competitor, I could not understand how the referees made some of their decisions - it's still a bit like that today sometimes. There was a lot of biasness in decisions made in those days and I thought I would like to be a referee and see if I could help in some way. I never realized that I would be in the position that I am today but that's how it began. So I started to study to be a referee and worked through the ranks. I went for my first European Referees' Course which was in Rome in 1968 . I did not pass - the referees' committee asked some stupid questions (laughter). Of course ,at that time it was very amateurish. The test was done with two brown belts with shoes on fighting in the car park! That wasn't professional at all. Anyway,I persevered on and all these expenses were borne by myself and two years later I could not go but another two years later in 1970 at the championships in Belgium, I sat for the test and passed. I became an international referee - at that time you could be a referee immediately. I guess I did well and after some time I began to get all the important matches, the finals , the controversial ones and so on. And I really enjoyed doing the job. Then in 1975, I was asked to join the European Referee Committee as a member and in the same year, I went to Long Beach, USA and took the examination for the WUKO Referee license. I qualified as an arbitrator - the highest level you could get - and I was very pleased of course. I continued to work and in 1977 I took the exam again in Japan because in those days, your qualification only lasted from one championship to the next. You had to take the exam again and if you didn't pass, you didn't take part. For example, one could go as an arbitrator, the highest level, and come as nothing the next. I was then promoted to be one of the chief referees and promoted to the World Referees Committee in 1977. Over the years, I became Chairman of both organizations' Referee Committee. I was asked to step into Mr Vichy's (of France) position as Chairman of the EKU in 1982. They asked me then during the Maastricht 84 World Championships to chair the WUKO committee because they had some problems but I declined because I felt that it was too important a position for me at that time. It also meant a big commitment and a giving a great deal of your time. Mr Anderson of USA took the job at that time and then at the Sydney 86 Championships in the middle of the referee course, they told me "Ok, now you're chairman of the referees".

- Not very ceremonious is it ?
- No, it's not such a grand title as people think.

How does a referee committee work ?
It's very strange actually how it works, sometimes it doesn't work. In reality, we would prefer two people from each continental union as representatives in the committee but it doesn't always work that way because there aren't always highly qualified people from each continent. Some of the countries do not even have referees who can represent them at the continental level. The Referee Committee is decided by the Directing Committee (DC) of the FMK and all appointed members get to sit on the committee for four years - and that includes me. After four years the Directing Committee will reappoint or appoint new ones. However the DC does not have anything to say about how the referees should do their work and the rules themselves. They may request the presence of the Chairman of the Referee Committee if there is something to be discussed but they do not actually make the decision.
What I do is I try to remember why I became a referee in the first place and what I want to see is a group of referees who are competent to do the job and who understand the game - and it is not an easy one, I know that - and above all, honest people and give to the best of their ability. Ted Hedlund (from Sweden) has been a very good member of the committee. He and I have had a lot of differences with Ted in the past and we have argued about many things but as you know Ted is a very strong-willed person and will not just agree with everything that is said. He has his own mind and I respect him for being a very competent referee. I am very happy to have Ted on both committees (FMK and EKU) because I know that he will do his very best to give his honest opinion based on his knowledge which is very considerable.


I understand that the building of the referee committee wasn't smooth sailing all the way. Would you care to elaborate ?
The move to have a committee was already in motion in Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia) during the 12th FMK. No committee was appointed , I was appointed as Chairman but they could not come to a decision about the actual committee members. There were a lot of people wanting some unqualified people to be in the committee purely for political reasons and this was the case even some years ago. I had a lot of arguments with some members of the DC over this - I mean, we are a technical committee and we are not interested and we do not have a place in politics at all. Our job is to see that the referees are competent and that they do the job properly regardless of which country or where they come from. Obviously some people do not see it that way and in Kota Kinabalu I ended up with no committee. At the World Cup in Frankfurt there was still no committee but we managed to appoint a temporary one. They kept saying, well, we'll give you a committee so I gave them a list of names . There weren't that many - about 16 or 17 names of people whom I thought were qualified in both Kata and Kumite. When I went to South Africa for the 13th World Championships in Sun City, still no committee so I had to appoint some people to help me. Then I went for a meeting on the second day and told them "Look, you must give me a committee or else you will have no championship." Eventually we got our committee and the members are Ted Hedlund (Sweden) and Eduardo Sanchez (Spain) representing the European continent , Howard Todds (Australia) representing Oceania , Mr Hakoishi (Japan) and Mr Hasimi (Japan) representing Asia, Peter Brown (Canada) and Julius Thiry (USA) representing the American continent.

How do you feel about Karate getting into the Olympics ?
If Karate were to ever make it to the Olympics - well that's a good question. To get there is the first step but if it were ever to make it then obviously some changes will have to be made. In fact the main problem is that the rules of the game are very difficult for the ordinary person to follow. In fact they are difficult even for the Karateka to follow. It must be one of the few sports where the competitor and the coach themselves don't know the rules under which they are competing. And you know it because you see it everywhere you go. We will probably have to find a better way to make people understand so maybe in that respect, we will need to make some changes.

Do you see competition as a part of Karate - if so, which part?
That's a difficult one to answer in many ways. Nowadays we have so many incentives for people to win. In the beginning it was a way for the Karateka to test himself against somebody else under certain controlled conditions. Of course it's still the same in that respect today. The problem is the whole nature of the game has changed so much and for some countries they have very high incentives to actually win a medal from the government and for some countries they simply have the honour of winning. Very often,the ones who win the medals for the honour of it are the ones who have the best etiquette and the best behaviour while the ones who win for the money are the worst.

Do you see a conflict between Karatedo and Sport Karate ?
Karate sport is actually a part of Karate-do and not separate from Karate-do. I see it as a part of it. Even though the sporting part of it has changed dramatically over the years, the training in the dojo can still be kept even if you are involved with the sporting part of it.The sporting part of it is a part of it is just a game. The conflict arises when I go to the world championships and see athletes behave badly. It shows that they do not understand the meaning of Karate-do , they are only interested in winning by any means even if they have to cheat by faking injury and so on. Display of bad behaviour is something that I find difficult to accept. At the same time I feel very fortunate that I have some influence in the competition to make it fair and to give everybody a fair chance.

Technique-wise the number of techniques for competition has been narrowed down to just half a dozen . Doesn't that go against your philosophy as a Karate instructor?
Theoretically, we allow any technique as long as it doesn't endanger the opponent although we do not allow open-hand techniques. Of course only half a dozen techniques are considered scores by the referees. There is no problem for my philosophy as a Karateka because it's only a game. It has nothing to do with real fighting. If anybody tries to say that Karate competition is training for a real fight, then they do not understand what fighting is. I may be the Chief referee for the FMK and have spent many years refereeing Karate competitions but at the same time I am still interested in teaching practical self-defence for people in real situations. I also teach firearms training and with various kinds of weapons; and training for special forces and Police organizations even to as far as USA. So I always have to think about real-life application of self-defence. And Karate competition is a game which is played according to rules.

So you do see a clear line of separation between the real Karate and Sport Karate ?
Well, we have to accept that to many people this (competition Karate ) is the real Karate. But I do see a very clear line between self-defence and the game. It's a lot like playing tennis; it's not enough just to hit the ball but to so it with skill. Let's see what we are not allowed to do in competition; you are not allowed to hit your opponent hard, really hard, you're not allowed to put your fingers in his eyes, you cannot hit him in the throat, you cannot kick him in the groin, you cannot attack his joints , you cannot throw him so that he lands on his head, you cannot stamp him when he's on the ground; all the most effective techniques for self-defence are banned. (Laughter) So there is no problem for me in distinguishing between the two; one is a game with rules and the other is not a game. In the real thing if you make a mistake you may die, in competition if you make a mistake , then you'll just have to try again.

So you think it's important for practitioners to see that clear line that differentiates the two ?
Yes, this is what I would say to all Karate instructors everywhere, is that if you do not know that, then you should learn it because your students are your responsibility. By encouraging people to fight back in a real situation , you may be encouraging them to do something which they are not equipped to do. They might suffer and maybe even with their life. So they have to understand very well that when you hit somebody in the dojo, whether accidentally or whatever, and they stop because their nose is bleeding or to check to see if they have a black eye, it's not like that in real life. People don't do that in reality. It's completely different. The human body can absorb tremendous punishment when the adrenalin is flowing ,just like an animal. It's a survival mechanism.So people should understand that there is a very clear line between self-defence and training and playing - there should be a very clear line between what's real and what's not.Self defence meaning practical Karate.

So how do you see yourself - as Tommy Morris Chairman of the Referee Committee or Tommy Morris Sensei of Kobe-Osaka Shitoryu ?
I see myself as Tommy Morris, a person who does a job and I am a very fortunate person to be able to make a living out of doing something that I really enjoy. I have met a lot of interesting and nice people through being involved with Karate and refereeing. I do not make a lot of money but I think money alone is not the key to happiness. I have seen many rich people very unhappy.So I am very fortunate to be able to my hobby full-time for the rest of my life.