Both Peter Radcliffe, outgoing Chair of England Athletics, and John Graves, Chair of the England Council and proposed Chair of England Athletics, are anxious to reinforce the views expressed by David Bedford about ARC in last weeks Athletics Weekly.
Peter says;
“We have been through the Modernisation process and England Athletics and a revised team at U.K. Athletics is now in place. At England Athletics we share most of the frustrations of the past; the dominant mood in the sport is to focus all of our energies on working together to take the sport forward. We must stop giving the impression of a divided and distracted sport.
ARC. have a clear relationship with ABAC .Whilst we sympathise with many of the frustrations at club level which motivate them, trying to set up a separate body, which cannot match the offering of a governing body, is in very serious danger of damaging the goodwill of the community to our sport."
John is anxious to emphasise the benefits of England Athletics::
Affiliating to England Athletics brings benefits for athletes, clubs, coaches, officials, competition providers administrators and many other volunteers within our sport.
Clubs and athletes affiliated to England Athletics can have the confidence that events recognized by England Athletics will be well organised and managed as all such events are held and permitted under UKA rules with arrangements in place to ensure that strict guidelines are followed.
Officials in charge of these event will be judged to be ‘competent’ by the sports governing body against clearly defined requirements and in any possible individual and group litigation there will be clarity over the competency of officials backed up by the strength of the governing body. Similarly, any permits that are issued will also have the full backing and authorisation of the governing body of the whole sport should litigation occur.
The coaching of athletes must be done by competently qualified and CRB checked coaches. The governing body provides clarity and nationally recognised standards for coaching qualifications and an athlete can be sure that coaches working in clubs affiliated to England Athletics will meet these standards.
It is imperative that volunteers within the sport have the opportunity to develop their skills and competencies should they wish and affiliation to England Athletics allows all volunteers to access funding to support any personal development that will improve delivery of the sport and improve performance levels. Regional funds have been made, and will continue to be made available to assist with the development of the club, their activities, coaches and officials and individual athletes and other volunteers.
England Athletics is aware of the concerns of the vast numbers of road runners in the country and through Nigel Rowe, its representative on the Road Running Leadership Group, is working to ensure that the road running clubs’ views are heard on the RRLG.
This Road Running Leadership Group is accountable to the UKA Members Council and will be examining and bringing forward proposals for
- The administration of road running – setting standards, quality control etc
- Finance – the collection and distribution of funds to ensure long term sustainability of the road running.
- Participation – maintaining the attractiveness of the sport to existing and new runners
- Elite runners – developing strategies and actions to improve the elite standards in the sport of road running.
All Regional Councils have a representative who is responsible for road running and is there to ensure that local needs and concerns are brought to the attention of the RRLG through the England Council.
Participation in events held under UKA rules will require affiliation to England Athletics. Any club or athlete not affiliated will need to pay an unattached levy where one is permissible. Many events don’t have this option and clubs wishing to take part in championships, whether county, territorial or national in road running, cross country running or track and field will be denying their athletes the opportunity of taking part in these events.
Even for athletes who wish to avoid championships, it soon becomes more cost-effective to affiliate to England Athletics and receive the benefits of such membership rather than continue to pay the £2 unattached levy.
Many clubs enjoy the benefits of guaranteed club places in the London Marathon. As Dave Bedford stated last week, clubs affiliated to England Athletics will be able to apply for and secure club places for the Marathon and these places will be allocated to affiliated clubs on the basis of their membership numbers.
England Athletics has been formed to recognise and support the needs of clubs and athletes at a local level. This support comes through the working partnership of regional staff and democratically elected councils. All clubs affiliated to England Athletics have the opportunity to influence the direction of the sport within their region through the local councils and nationally through the England Council. Monies raised from affiliation fees will be directed to the regions to aid further development and support for the sport within these regions. In my 46 years in the sport this is the first time that there has been the opportunity for the grass roots of the sport to have this influence and to have this level of support. Non affiliation to England Athletics will disenfranchise many from this process.
I am passionate in my belief that our sport needs to remain united if it is to continue to attract athletes and volunteers in a society that has so much to offer the individual.
England Athletics was formed to represent athletics and the athlete irrespective of ability or discipline. Our energies should be spent on ensuring that we are successful in this task and we shouldn’t be distracted from this goal.
Please also see the link to another related document:
http://www.englandathletics.org/news/article-4/
|
/
