On the 24th of July 1973 Grandmaster Leung Ting formed the WingTsun Leung Ting Martial Arts Association. The association is now called the International WingTsun Association (IWTA)and is the mother school for thousands of WingTsun branches and affiliated organisations throughout the world such as the International WingTsun Association - North American Section (IWTA-NAS), the European WingTsun Organisation (EWTO)and the Eastern European WingTsun Organisation (EEWTO). The WingTsun examination and grading system is strictly controlled by the IWTA and applies to every WingTsun school around the world.
The growth of Leung Ting Wing Tsun outside Hong Kong began in the mid 70s with the publication of articles by Grandmaster Leung Ting on Wing Tsun. These articles led to requests by western martial artists for seminars and in 1976 Grandmaster Leung Ting embarked on a tour of Europe which led to the formation of the European WingTsun Organisation. In 1980 he gave a number of seminars in the USA which led to the formation of the North American branch.
The European WingTsun Organisation (EWTO) is the European branch of the IWTA and has three main functions. To maintain and develop the theory and practise of WingTsun, to act as an umbrella organisation for all WingTsun students and instructors and to represent WingTsun to the public.
Si-Gung Keith Kernspecht is the founder and chief-instructor of the European WingTsun Organisation (EWTO). He began the study of martial arts at the end of the 1950s starting with freestyle and catch wrestling and followed this with Judo (2nd Dan), Jiu-Jitsu, Kempo (2nd Dan), Shaolin Kung-Fu, Shotokan and Wado-Ryu Karate (3rd Dan), Ko-Budo, Taekwon-Do, Aikido and various Thai arts. In 1967 Si-Gung Kernspecht founded this own martial arts school, the Budo-Zirkel (Circle) in the city of Kiel.
Si-Gung Kernspecht also studied Wing Chun in London in the early 1970s and the Wing Chun section formed part of the Budo-Zirkel. In 1975 Si-Gung Kernspecht invited Si-Jo Leung Ting to teach a series of WingTsun seminars in his school in Kiel. Following this seminar he became Si-Jo Leung Ting's student and the chief-instructor of both the German and European branch of the IWTA. He began the process of promoting the unknown art of WingTsun in Germany and it was from here that the seeds of Leung Ting WingTsun were planted in Europe.
In 1980 the headquarters of the EWTO was moved from Kiel to Heidelberg and the EWTO training academy was founded where to date 90% of all European WingTsun instructors have been taught. In 1982 both the training academy and the headquarters were moved to Langenzell Castle near Heidelberg where full time WingTsun training takes place six days per week. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland alone there are over 2000 schools and there are many other national WingTsun organisations throughout Europe headed by Master Level instructors.
Dai-Sifu Rainer Tausend is the head of the Irish WingTsun Organisation. He is a Master level practitioner (7th PG) of WingTsun. The IEWTO is made up of four schools.
| Dublin: City Centre - Sifu Aidan Canavan | 4th TG |
| Dublin: Blanchardstown - Si-Hing Michael O'Leary | 3rd TG |
| Dublin: Finglas - Si-Hing Martin Krause | 2nd TG |
| Northern Ireland: Larne - James McQuaid | 1st TG |
Leung Ting WingTsun has been taught in Ireland for over twenty years and began in the 1980s when two Dublin based Wing Chun students attended a training course given by Grandmaster Leung Ting in New York. Following this training course they became WingTsun representatives and opened a school in Church Street, Dublin. Sifu Aidan Canavan who today runs the Dublin City Centre school was one of the original students at this time and took over the running of the club when the teachers left to pursue other interests. Since the late 1980s Sifu Canavan has been teaching WingTsun in his Dublin school and has hosted many seminars by various WingTsun masters including Grandmaster Leung Ting.
Following the re-organisation of WingTsun in the UK and Ireland in 1998, Dai-Sifu Rainer Tausend was appointed by the EWTO as the National instructor for Ireland. The "Irish WingTsun Organisation" (IEWTO) was formally established in 1999 following Dai-Sifu Tausend's first seminar in Ireland and its purpose is to oversee the promotion and practise of WingTsun. Dai-Sifu Tausend visits Ireland many times throughout the year to provide seminars for both students and instructors and is responsible for ensuring that WingTsun is taught in a friendly, positive and consistent manner.
