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

26 The Evans Report financial appraisal based on the draft constitution. It was intended that these would come together and be put before the BAAB Council, hopefully for approval, on 7 th July. But then disaster struck; as I shall describe in more detail later, the BAAB was in financial trouble, which meant that everything else was shelved for the time being. The financial position was revealed to be so serious that the BAAB came close to being wound up there and then but the AAA, not for the first time, was called upon to bail out the BAAB; but exacted conditions. In return for guaranteeing the BAAB’s debts, the AAA demanded that it take over the direct management of the BAAB’s affairs (under what was to be called the “caretakership”) and, furthermore, needed additional voting power to enforce its will. In the face of this financial reality, the BAAB accepted the AAA’s “offer” and, at a special Extraordinary General Meeting on 10 th October 1987, granted the AAA an additional six votes at Council meetings. This gave the AAA 15 votes out of a total of 30, not an outright majority, which was thought to be too brutal, but enough to get its way. Along with the financial deal, the AAA extracted an agreement that a deadline of 1 January 1989 (some 15 months hence) would be set for the establishment of the one governing body. There was some discussion about how this was to be achieved and it was eventually agreed that, as the AAA was now in charge, the responsibility should be passed back to them. The AAA President, Arthur McAllister, agreed to lead the project forward and to produce the necessary constitution. He was very conscious of the need for speed as the vital TV and marketing contracts would run out in March 1990 and negotiations for their renewal would be starting in early 1989. Indeed, Andy Norman had made this point very forcibly during the debate and TV executives had been looking for reassurances that they would have a credible organisation to deal with. Somewhat boldly, as it turned out, McAllister said that “I am not going to have a working group that produces another report, like Byers, Turner, Evans and others: we‟ve got to get on quickly with constructing the new body, to maintain the confidence of the sponsors and television with whom we will be in negotiation within 18 months. I would hope to have a