European Karate Championships  The European Karate Championships are organised by the European Karate Federation each year. Events from 1966 to 1996 were organized by the European Karate Union. In 1961, Jacques Delcourt was appointed President of French Karate, which was at that stage, an associated member of the Judo Federation. In 1963, he invited six other known European federations (Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Spain) to come to France for the first-ever international karate event. Great Britain and Belgium accepted the invitation. By 1965, the European Karate Union was created with Jacques Delcourt voted in as President. The following year the first European Karate Championships were held in Paris. The event drew roughly three hundred spectators and was shown live on television. It drew criticism for being too violent as there were many facial injuries. The EKU council had differing opinions about the cause(s) of the injuries. With opinions ranging from excessive violations of rules to lack of conditioning and blocking skill, this problem was addressed in some part, at the first referee course held in Rome. At that time, the refereeing rules were harmonised using the JKA rules as a basis.