World Police and Fire Games

The World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) is a biennial athletic event, open to active and retired law enforcement and fire service personnel throughout the world. The WPFG Federation is an arm of the California Police Athletic Federation (CPAF),^[1] an American non-profit organization.

World Police and Fire Games
WPFG Logo
Status	Active
Genre	Various sporting events
Frequency	Biennial
Location(s)	Various
Inaugurated	1985 (1985)

Ice Hockey at the 2015 games in Fairfax, Virginia

French team in New York on a day Hurricane Irene cancelled competition in 2011

Border Patrol Agent Matt Phelps completes his successful attempt for a World Record bench press of 551lbs at the 2015 WPFG in Herndon Virginia.

The Games attract approximately 10,000 entrants, slightly fewer than the Summer Olympic Games, and exceeding the third position holder, the Commonwealth Games.^{[citation needed]} In the early 2010s, the United Kingdom hosted all three events consecutively; the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, followed by the 2013 World Police and Fire Games in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and ending with Glasgow, Scotland, hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games - the first time all three events have been hosted by the same nation consecutively.

The host city of the 2015 World Police and Fire Game was Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States, with venues located around the Washington metropolitan area.^[2]

In 2017, the Games were scheduled to be held in the city of Montreal, however, Montreal backed out of their hosting duties after a labour dispute between the city and its fire department. The Games were quickly rescheduled and successfully held in Los Angeles.

In 2019 the host city was Chengdu in China.

The WPFG 2021 were postponed until 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022 the host city was Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

The 2023 Games were hosted in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada.

History

The California Police Olympics were first held in 1967. The concept evolved over the years and led to the creation of the World Police & Fire Games Federation—a non-profit organization, run by the Californian Police Athletics Federation—in 1983. Two years later, in 1985, the first World Police & Fire Games were held in San Jose, California, USA, with nearly 5,000 competitors.^[3]

The largest WPFG games to date was held in New York, New York, USA with over 16,000 athletes in attendance, from 59 nations.^[4]

The most successful and best organised was in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2013.^[5] It was described, by the President of the World Police and Fire Games Federation, Mike Graham, as "the friendliest and best Games ever".^[6]

The Montreal Firefighters Association called for a boycott of the 2017 Games, which were held in their own city, in protest against forced changes to their collective agreements and pension funds by the City of Montreal and the Quebec provincial government. Labor unions representing over 100,000 firefighters and civil servants joined Montreal's firefighters in the boycott.^[7][8]

Games

Edition	Year	City	Country	Results
1	1985	San Jose, California	United States	^[9]
2	1987	San Diego, California	United States	^[10]
3	1989	Vancouver	Canada	^[11]
4	1991	Memphis, Tennessee	United States	^[12]
5	1993	Colorado Springs	United States	^[13]
6	1995	Melbourne	Australia	^[14]
7	1997	Calgary	Canada	^[15]
8	1999	Stockholm	Sweden	^[16]
9	2001	Indianapolis	United States	^[17]
10	2003	Barcelona	Spain	^[18]
11	2005	Québec City	Canada	^[19]
12	2007	Adelaide	Australia	^[20]
13	2009	Vancouver	Canada	^[21]
14	2011	New York City	United States	^[22]
15	2013	Belfast	United Kingdom	^[23]
16	2015	Fairfax County	United States	^[24]
17	2017	Los Angeles	United States	^[25]
18	2019	Chengdu	China	^[26]
19	2022	Rotterdam	Netherlands	^[27]
20	2023	Winnipeg	Canada	TBD
21	2025	Birmingham	United States	TBD
22	2027	Perth	Australia	TBD

See also

• World Firefighters Games
• World Military Games
• World Police Indoor Soccer Tournament
• USIP World Police Games
• European Police and Fire Games
• World Police Concert
• Juegos Europeos de Policías y Bomberos

References

1. "World Police & Fire Games At A Glance". CPAF. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
2. "World Police and Fire Games | Fairfax 2015 | Home". Fairfax 2015. Retrieved Dec 27, 2019.
3. History of the World Police & Fire Games. 2011 World Police & Fire Games. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
4. "World Police and Fire Games - Fairfax, Virginia".
5. BBC News - In pictures: World Police and Fire Games 2013. Bbc.co.uk (2013-08-08). Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
6. BBC News - WPFG 'best and friendliest ever', says president of games. Bbc.co.uk (2013-08-10). Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
7. "Firefighters boycotting 2017 World Firefighters Games in Montreal". Kate McKenna. CBC News. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
8. "Montreal World Police and Fire Games Boycott". Montreal World Police and Fire Games. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
9. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
10. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
11. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
12. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
13. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
14. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
15. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
16. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
17. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
18. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-07-26. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
19. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-02-22. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
20. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
21. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-20. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
22. (PDF). CPAF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-19. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
23. "2013 Results" (PDF). CPAF.
24. "2015 Results".
25. "2017 Results".
26. "2019 Results".
27. "2022 Results".

External links

• WPFG 2017 Official Website. Los Angeles 2017 World Police and Fire Games official website
• WPFG 2015 official website. Fairfax 2015 World Police and Fire Games official website
• WPFG 2022 official website. Rotterdam 2022 World Police and Fire Games official website
• California Police Athletic Federation (CPAF) official website
• United States Police and Fire Championships. CPAF official website