Imagine a training hall at RAF Changi in Singapore in the 1960s. A Korean instructor called Rhee Ki Ha, a 5th Dan, is teaching taekwondo to men from the Royal Air Force. 15,100 When they went home to Britain, they invited him to come too. 15,100
2 July 1967
Rhee Ki Ha arrived in Britain on 2 July 1967. 15,100 He founded the United Kingdom Taekwon-Do Association, the UKTA, which calls itself "the original Taekwon-Do organisation in Great Britain". 100 He is often called the "Father of British Taekwon-Do". 15 He taught General Choi's taekwondo, and the UKTA is still a member of the ITF based in Vienna. 63,100
Coventry, 1971
In September 1971 the first British civilian black belts were awarded, in Coventry. We know this from one of them, Roy Oldham, who says he was among the first 12. 106
1983: new groups
In January 1983 Trevor Nicholls, a black belt, left the UKTA and started his own group, which is now called UK ITF. 101 In the same year the TAGB, the Tae Kwon-Do Association of Great Britain, was formed. 97,99 Nobody wrote down why the groups split.
The TAGB became the biggest independent group. It says every TAGB school teaches the same syllabus, and that students are always graded by outside examiners, never by their own instructor. 96
A council and a governing body
In 1988 the British Taekwondo Council, the BTC, was set up, with the TAGB as a founding member. 95,99 The BTC is not a style. Its 14 member groups practise ITF, independent and Kukkiwon styles. 95
The Olympic family has its own governing body, British Taekwondo. 89 GB Taekwondo, which trains the Olympic team, was set up in 2002, and since 2006 it has trained in Manchester. 91 In 2025 British Taekwondo announced that all the UK's sports councils recognise it as the governing body for WT taekwondo. 89
How many clubs?
British Taekwondo says it has over 600 clubs. The TAGB says over 600 too. UKTC, another ITF style group, says 600. Those are each group's own numbers. 90,96,107
Two groups called ITF England
Remember the three ITFs? Britain has two groups called ITF England. One follows the Vienna ITF, and the other follows the ITF led by Paul Weiler. 102,103 So when a club says "ITF", it is worth asking which one.
The last chapter is about the British fighters who took taekwondo to the Olympic podium.