An Athletics Compendium

A 313-316 Scotland ~ General Scotland ~ General 313 Fifty years ofathletics: an historical recorodf the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association 1883-1933 / edited by KennethWhitton and DavidA. Jamieson; foreword by SiIrain Colquhoun of Luss. Edinburgh: The Association, 1933. 160p; illus BL; 7916.b.29 It is always tempting crtioticise past generatiofonrs their failure toreflect modern attitudes. F/Yfteyars of Athletice does,however, show the5AAA to be a dour, conservative organisation, contemptuous of the rich rural antecedents fwrohmich Scottish athletics had been derived. It shows an organisation with its energies far mofroecussed upotnhe protection of the amateur code than with the spread of athletics. Nowhere is thismore obviousthan inthe Association's failure to adopt the full Olympic track and field programme, despite the fact that much of that programme had been derived from Scottish Highland Games. Similarly, iftasilure to impose quotas on field events within the schedules of its open handicap meetings crippled the growth of technical events. This harrier-based insularity, the sheer lack of developmental zeanl,ot onlyof the Scots, but hoef other home nations, cbaenclearly seen itnhe records of Scottish international matches against England and Irelandinthe 1593-1932 period for nowhere do the European throwing events of javelin and discus appear; neither dopole vault or (even against the Iristh)at essentially Celtic event, triple jump. Similarly, javelin and discus did not appear in the Scottish championship programme until 1925, or triple jump until 1937. A study of the results of the Scottish inter- scholastic championshipi s equally interesting.They reveal hardly any changineperformance levels between 1900 and 1933, no evidence of the intervention of coaching of anykind. Fifty Years ofAthletics fills oinne piece ofthe jigsaw of athletics history in revealing that it was a Scot, D. S. Duncan, who broke thtaepe tdoeclare void the first 1905 Olympi4c00m final. The second final was the only occasion on whicahn Olympic final was completed by a single runner, another Scot, Lieutenant W. Halswelle. 314 Scottish athletics 1883-1983: the official centenary publication of the ScottisAhmateur Athletic Association / John W. Keddie. Edinburgh: The Association, 1982. x, 264p; illus; index ISBN; 0-9508405-0-5 Keddie provides a rich, detailed account of the evolution of Scottish men's athletics in the 1663- 1963 period. Like most historians of amateur athletics, he gives little weight to its roots in nineteenth century rusraplorts and pedestrianism or to thestandards achieved there, standards which were superior to Scottisahmateur athletics up until the Great War. He is probably the only athletics historian to observeon the paradox of the nation's nobility's support for professional Highland Games, quoting SAAA Secretary D. S. Duncan in 1923. 'Games' committees willnever take a step in the right direction as long as professionalism in atnletic sports is encouraged tinhis country .K..e'.ddie also provides a significant nugget of information relating to the British Olympic Association's preparations for the 1916 Olympics,observing that fivSecottish coaches had been appointed i1n914 at a salary£1ofper week and two at ten shillings. The bulk of Keddie's book is event-based and as with all official histories, Scottish Athletice is short on opinion, but Keddie's work is nevertheless an outstanding contribution to athletics history. 315 Runs will take place whateverthe weather: the official centenary history of the ScottisChross Country Union 1890-1990 / Colin A. Shields. Glasgow: The Union, 1990. xvi, 283p; illus ISBN; 0-951668-10-2 BL: YK.1992.a.5146 The first club cross-country race in Scotland was organised by Clydesdale Harriers in 1665, and a national association formed in 1667. A rival body, Scottish Harriers Union, was set up the following year; but bothbodies were dissolved in1690 when the SCCU was founded. The history of the Union is treated decade by decade; national and district championship results, an alphabetical listing of SCCU representatives in ICCU and 1AAF races, principal officers oaf,nd clubs affiliated thoe, SCCU are given. * Additional References 316 Alive in the 1900s: with reminiscences of the Scottish Council of Physical Recreation/ May Brown. Edinburgh: Scottish Sports Council, 1979. iv, 11Op; pbk ISBN; 0-906599-22-9 BL; X.619/22206 Important for its references to the launch of the National Coaching Scheme in athletics, from the appointment Hof. A. L. (Tony) Chapman as National Coach for Scotland in 1949, to his resignation following the setting up of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Joint Coaching Committee, and the revival of the SWAAA. The foreword is by Dr H. Stewart Mackintosh. [ 2 8 ]