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

116 Andy Norman But Norman could not escape his own reputation and, in July 1992, the BBC broadcast a programme in its “On the Line” series which attacked his role in athletics. Suggestions were made of complicity in the avoidance of doping tests and conflicts of interest. The programme was full of innuendo but no hard facts and, despite lodging a strong complaint with the BBC, there was little that the sport or Norman could do. During 1993, a respected and popular athletics journalist, Cliff Temple, was preparing an article for the Sunday Times which was expected to be critical of Norman. Norman had got wind of this and had telephoned Temple to “warn him off” but the article duly appeared on 1 st August 1993. In January 1994, Temple, who had been suffering from depression following his divorce, committed suicide and Norman was accused of contributing to his death by making false accusations about his (Temple’s) relationship with one of the female athletes he coached. The conclusions of the subsequent inquest did not go that far but the fatal damage to Norman’s reputation had been done and the press went to town on him, seeing this as their long awaited chance to repay the abuse they had borne over so many years. The BAF acted and chairman Peter Radford suspended Norman pending an investigation. Andy Norman was not without his sympathisers, however, and, in a letter to Athletics Weekly , respected middle distance coach Frank Horwill wrote , “How sad that his (Temple‟s) life‟s work will most probably be remembered for a sordid dispute and the tragic method of his death. How ironic that his death is to be used as a lever to dethrone another world famous figure in athletics (Norman).” On 8 April 1994, Radford announced in a Press Release that “I have concluded that Mr Norman‟s conduct in certain matters was not appropriate for someone employed as Director of Promotions of BAF and that it would be inconsistent with the interests of BAF for Mr Norman to remain in our employment”. Radford went on to emphasise that it had been no part of his function to enquire into the causes or circumstances of the death of the late Cliff Temple. He also mentioned the positive contribution made to British athletics by Norman and hoped that “in future a more balanced view of Andy Norman‟s contribution.....will emerge in the media than has sometimes been the case recently” .