About us

In 1974 Tom was still the Secretary and by then the association was governed by a new annually elected executive committee with meetings always in Judd Street.

The first President of the new association was Kevin Hamilton Stewart, who was honoured at the AMA awards night 2019 for his service along with Steve Stavridis.

The association grew in numbers, members where brought in from a) Belgium thanks to the late Phill Morgan b) Isle of Man, Channel Is and Israel, thanks to Colin Whitaker and Greece, thanks to Steve Stavridis and others from Italy Sweden, France and Holland.

In 1984 the Amateur Martial Association was born under a 12 strong executive committee. It was then that the President, Fred Adams, late in the year resigned for health reasons and the Vice President Colin Whitaker became President and over the years that followed Peter Allen, Kevin Hamilton-Stewart and myself were Vice Presidents.

In the mid 80’s Tom Hibbert was awarded an MBE something that was highly valued and well deserved for his services to the sport and encouragement to young people.

In the early 90’s the AMA became almost bankrupt. An Extra-Ordinary Executive Meeting was called in London with Tom Hibbert asking us to “save his baby” as he called it and everyone there contributed, so that the bills of rent, electricity, rates, etc could be paid! The association was saved.

New elections had to take place immediately for the Executive as some had to leave. One of the new appointments was of Peter Allen the then AMA squad manager (appointed 1990) to the full executive, and Steve Stavridis to the executive and also as Vice President.

In the late 90’s the AMA HQ in London had another blow. The London Education Authority wanted the London club building for complete renovation and the association had to move out to other premises. Tom Hibbert with the help of Peter Allen moved everything to Chaddesden, Derby. It took some time for the whole operation to settle down and to progress as it was before, prior to the move.

The AMA co organised by Peter Allen and his team, held on behalf of the EKGB the Commonwealth Karate Games in Manchester.

In November 2005, the EKGB had decided to amalgamate into Karate England 2005. The AMA joined the new body like many others. Unfortunately it was very short lived as the body folded in 2007.

From 2007 -2010 there was a lot of conflicts of interest with our members, differences of opinion, operational issues between AMA traditional operations and WAKO GB ones. And for the benefit of all parties and for the continuation of AMA’s good name and values, it was decided that the AMA office would come “up north” and the WAKO GB office would stay in Derby.

The main people involved with decision making regarding this move were Tom Hibbert, Kevin Hamilton-Stewart, Christine Pullan, Darrel Bagley, Colin Whitaker, Peter Allen and Steve Stavridis as well as other executive officers when needed. At that time, It was decided that separation would be best for all parties, the main reason being the continuation of the AMA as it was before.

In May 2011 the AMA entered its first World Karate event with its members in Ligano Italy having joined WUKF in October 2010.

November 2011 saw the retirement of Colin Whitaker as President of AMA and following an Executive Meeting Steve Stavridis was elected to serve as President with Peter Allen as Vice President. The decision of the executive was to form a Limited company by guarantee. Three AMA Directors were nominated, elected and registered with Companies House. They were Steve Stavridis Christine Pullan and Peter Allen.

2013 The European WUKF karate championships were held in Sheffield and hosted by the AMA and Peter Allen at the International Arena, Ponds Forge. At this time this was the largest event organised by the AMA in its history.

‘The glory years of the Association’ The Karate squads where strong in WUKF finishing higher than any other English groups on the World stage as an independent group. 2nd was one of the high point when England held a strong position in the medal table.

The Jujitsu groups in the AMA were also strong in their World body WCJJO winning the World title many times. In 2022 the WCJJO event is moving to England. In this period Peter Allen was appointed as European President of WUKF serving 4 years from 2014 until 2017.

In 2016 AMA Ireland hosted the 6th World Championships in Dublin by Sean O’Brien. In 2018, Roy O’Kane our AMA member in Scotland hosted the 7th World championships event in the UK on behalf of WUKF in Dundee, this was probably the best event hosted to date since WUKF was formed.

From the President ‘Covid-19, Pandemic or not’, we are still going strong and for this , credit must go to Peter and Anne Allen and their efficient office staff for keeping a tight ship. My fellow Directors, Christine and Peter, all the Executive members and of course all our valuable AMA members are crucial to the future of the association.

Peter Allen mentions, In September 2021, Steve Stavridis has served the association for 50 years loyal service from Instructor to Jujitsu Manager, Vice President and eventually making it to be President of the best multi style association in the UK.

I quote our ‘President’ If anyone fancies the job, let me know and you will be very welcome to take over. Part of the job description is however a) to keep order b) know the Constitution inside out, c) be impartial and fair d) be the Enforcer when dealing with difficult people and writing disciplinary letters to them e) having the appropriate experience and keeping meetings short! Anyone interested? Nominations are every year as stated in our constitution.

Finally some advice from an old hand to the young and upcoming coaches, when you moan and groan about the judges or referee’s decisions, remember a) they are difficult jobs; b) yes, occasional mistakes do happen but we do our best to put them right. c) Respect must be forthcoming regarding our length of service, our grades, experience and knowledge and all the work that we put in behind the scenes to keep the AMA going.

We are ALL carrying the AMA torch for now, hoping that in the future some of you will keep alive our Founder, Tom Hibbert’s dream, asking us to look after “his baby”.
Report by Steve Stavridis & Peter Allen Directors

In September 2021, Steve Stavridis has served the association for 50 years loyal service from Instructor to Jujitsu Manager, Vice President and eventually making it to be President of the best multi style association in the UK.
I quote our ‘President’ If anyone fancies the job, let me know and you will be very welcome to take over. Part of the job description is however a) to keep order b) know the Constitution inside out, c) be impartial and fair d) be the Enforcer when dealing with difficult people and writing disciplinary letters to them e) having the appropriate experience and keeping meetings short! Anyone interested? Nominations are every year as stated in our constitution.
Finally some advice from an old hand to the young and upcoming coaches, when you moan and groan about the judges or referee’s decisions, remember a) they are difficult jobs; b) yes, occasional mistakes do happen but we do our best to put them right. c) Respect must be forthcoming regarding our length of service, our grades, experience and knowledge and all the work that we put in behind the scenes to keep the AMA going.
We are ALL carrying the AMA torch for now, hoping that in the future some of you will keep alive our Founder, Tom Hibbert’s dream, asking us to look after “his baby”.
Report by Steve Stavridis & Peter Allen Directors

Tom Hibbert MBE