Parkour Earth was officially established yesterday as the ongoing row with the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) continues.

Eugene Minogue, Parkour UK's chief executive, has been nominated and appointed as transitional chief executive on an ex-officio basis.

It was he who initially accused the FIG of "encroachment and misappropriation" of parkour and lodged a complaint with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in June.

Organisations in a number of other countries have also protested at FIG's involvement in the sport by writing to the Federation's President Morinari Watanabe.

FIG have responded to the allegations of "encroachment and misappropriation" of parkour, claiming this was never their intention.

A deadline to reach a Memorandum of Understanding between all parties elapsed on July 26, with Minogue promising they would "take all necessary and appropriate steps to protect the integrity and sovereignty of the sport of parkour/freerunning, our sport, our community".

In what appears to relate directly to that vow, Parkour Earth was launched.

"As a result of a clear and demonstrable common unity and purpose within the international community, a number of National Federations reached an accord on July 4, 2017 to establish Parkour Earth as the International Federation for parkour/freerunning/Art Du Déplacement - our sport, our community, our culture, our identity," a Parkour Earth statement read yesterday.

Just 24 hours after the launch of Parkour Earth, however, the IPF stated they are the only body to currently have an application with the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) for official recognition pending.

"Official recognition can only be bestowed by GAISF or by the IOC," an IPF statement on Facebook read.

"The only parkour federation with a pending application for GAISF or the IOC is the IPF.

"The application has been pending for three years."

Speaking to insidethegames, Minogue believes the IPF does not boast the same ideals as Parkour Earth and that backing for the newly formed organisation has been enormous.

"The IPF is closely linked to another organisation called the World Freerunning and Parkour Federation which is a for-profit organisation that has shareholders," he said.

"A lot of those shareholders are on the board of the IPF.

"The IPF does not have principles of governance, it does not have elections but a self-elected Board.

"One of our founding key principles is National Federations federating and that has not happened under the IPF or any other bodies out there.

"The community have embraced Parkour Earth overwhelmingly because it has come from that democratic viewpoint."

The six founding National Federations of Parkour Earth are Parkour UK, France's Fédération de Parkour, New Zealand Parkour, Australian Parkour Association, Parkour South Africa and Polish Parkour And Freerunning Federation.

The accord by the founding member National Federations has had approval of their Boards, members and/or communities. 

Following what is described as the "transparent and democratic approval" of the accord, Parkour Earth was incorporated on July 12 and registered at Companies House in the United Kingdom. 

The founding member National Federations have elected and appointed a transitional Board of Directors on phased initial terms of office. 

It is stated that Parkour Earth has been established on two fundamental principles - "National Federations federating" and "good governance".