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

25 THE EVANS REPORT On 11 October 1986, Bill Evans presented his committee’s report to the BAAB Council which decided to discuss it early in the New Year, two years after it had appointed the Evans Committee. In a rather woolly report, the committee had delved into a lot of detail but fudged some key issues. It identified possible member associations of the new body, which did not include clubs, but then went on to say that clubs would be invited to the AGM with votes and it even proposed detailed voting rights according to size. It proposed a Council that would meet only twice a year with a membership based on nations, not regions, plus special interest groups such as cross country, veterans, international athletes and schools. Day to day management would be in the hands of a Management Board. A chief executive was considered but rejected in favour of a part time chairman of the management board who would receive an honorarium (£5,000 p.a. was suggested). No attempt was made to address the financial consequences of the reorganisation and the special position of the AAA was not mentioned. However, it had proposed a name – British Athletic Federation (BAF). The flame seemed to be barely flickering if not quite out. At its meeting on 14 th February 1987, the BAAB Council decided to move the matter on by commissioning a draft of a Constitution and a financial plan. The General Secretary of the BAAB (Nigel Cooper) was tasked with producing a draft constitution and the responsibility for the financial plan was given to the finance committee – in practice to the treasurer of the BAAB (Mike Turner, he of the Turner report) and to me, as treasurer of the AAA. As a harbinger of things to come, the Southern Counties AAA circulated their observations on the report. Whilst generally supportive, the South wanted direct representation from the three English area associations to the managing council, not indirectly through the English AAA as suggested by Evans. They also criticised the lack of funding proposals and said that the BAF must be provided with sufficient start up capital to ensure its viability. By the end of May 1987, Nigel Cooper and Bill Evans had produced a draft constitution and Mike Turner and I had produced a