Athletics in the UK: The Rise and Fall of the BAF

8 The Birth of BAF - Introduction There was much interest and discussion within the sport on the topic of payments to athletes and, following the EGM and some comments in Athletics Weekly , the British Athletic League (BAL - which comprised the country’s leading clubs; and those to which most of the best athletes belonged) took a closer look at the topic and organised a meeting of persons who had shown a particular interest. I had been involved in the BAL since its inception and was one of those who attended this meeting which was held on 11 April 1981 at the Post House hotel, Heathrow. The others who attended were Roger Simons (Shaftesbury Harriers), Derek Johnson (representing the International Athletes’ Club), David Jeacock (Swindon AC), Neil Donachie (Edinburgh AC) and Jack Walters, chairman of the BAL. The deliberations of this group would eventually turn out to have a profound effect on the future direction of athletics in the UK. The group’s debate took an interesting turn. From a discussion about amateurism and the implications that athletes could become professional it became clear (at least to those present) that the existing unwieldy administrative structure of athletics would indeed struggle to manage the forces that could be released and that a new system was needed urgently – a single governing body; as recommended by Byers thirteen years before. Soundings amongst the BAL member clubs indicated widespread support for both the concepts of moving towards “open” athletics and a single governing body for athletics in the UK. “Open athletics” would make no distinction between athletes who were paid for competing and those who were not and it should not be forgotten that, under the amateur rules then in force, any athletes accepting even small cash payments or value in kind could be barred from competing for life. With this encouragement, thus started a process that led to the creation of the British Athletic Federation which was formally approved 10 years later, almost to the day, on 17 March 1991. But there would be many twists and turns, false dawns and false starts between 1981 and 1991 and the British Athletic Federation, created in controversy and conflict, would never achieve a peaceful existence before, itself, collapsing into administration in 1997 after a mere 6 years of life. This account is an attempt to describe what happened.