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

15 The Turner Committee Barry Willis, a respected former Honorary Secretary of the AAA, agreed to act as secretary to the committee. The committee did not waste any time in getting down to its task and held its first meeting in London on 19 December 1982. The first bit of good news was that, at its AGM the previous day, the Scottish AAA had agreed to have an open mind towards the deliberations of the AAA’s committee; a crack appearing rather than a breakthrough. From the outset, the committee was conscious of the need to tread carefully, to consult widely and not to alienate bodies and individuals in athletics who were jealous of their independence and suspicious of what the AAA was up to. Many saw it as an attempted take-over. The first tasks, therefore, were to analyse the existing situation and to set in train a process of consultation. These were to include face to face meetings with all existing governing bodies, a questionnaire, and an open letter to the principle athletics magazine, Athletics Weekly , inviting suggestions. It was important not to leave anybody out, even by accident. In order to manage this process of consultation effectively, the committee divided itself up to share the burden. As at least nineteen separate organisations had been identified, all of whom could claim to have a role in the administration of athletics in the UK, not to mention other entities such as the Sport Councils and the IAAF, the challenge was considerable. The committee worked extraordinarily hard with meetings at least monthly and visits to and meetings with other bodies in addition. In fact, the committee met formally fifteen times in the ten months prior to its final meeting on 23 October 1983. Numerous nettles needed to be grasped, none more ticklish than the odd positions of the Welsh AAA and the Welsh Women’s AAA. Representing a nation within the United Kingdom, as opposed to an area of England, these two associations were full members of the BAAB alongside the AAA, the Women’s AAA, Scottish men and women and Northern Irish men and women. HOWEVER, the Welsh AAA was also an area association member of the AAA and this was thought to be unfair as it gave the Welsh AAA two bites at the cherry. But it was worse, as the Welsh AAA sometimes voted against the views of the AAA (regarded as its parent body) in meetings of the BAAB. The Welsh women had taken a different