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

29 The McAllister Plan but the Southern Counties AAA objected even to the basic concept of a seat exclusively for England and preferred that each of the three English regions should be directly represented instead. A fire had been lit and was to burn brightly. McAllister persevered with his plan and obtained the support of the AAA General Committee (with the Southern Counties representatives abstaining) to put them to an EGM of the AAA to be specially convened for the purpose on 3 rd July 1988. The Southern Counties AAA was by now taking a more aggressive part in the debate and produced its own “six principles” that the BAF should be based upon. The essential difference from McAllister was that the managing council would include direct representation from the three English area associations and that the English should not have an automatic inbuilt majority. Derek Johnson had by now emerged as the loudest voice from the Southern Counties and had been the principal author of the “six principles”. What his ultimate motive might be was not clear but, at a AAA Finance & General Purposes Committee meeting prior to the EGM, he claimed that the South “ were fighting for their life ” and “ did not intend to allow themselves to be continually intimidated by their colleagues from the other areas ”. Derek Johnson had won a silver medal in the 800m at the Olympic Games of 1956 in a race which has been described as "one of the most thrilling in Olympic annals”. He had studied at Oxford University and was set on a medical career until illness intervened. An articulate and intelligent man, he pursued a business career and gradually established a base (not to mention an income) in athletics through the International Athletes’ Club where he played an important role in establishing and organising, in partnership with the younger David Bedford, an annual televised athletic spectacular at Crystal Palace stadium. His friendship with David Bedford grew and together they made a move into the politics of athletics through the Southern Counties AAA.