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

32 The McAllister Plan The debate raged for four hours with much heat (if less light) generated by both sides. John Rodda, writing in the Guardian , described the debate as “ often vitriolic, personal and likely to leave lasting damage, deep fissures within the sport were laid bare. ” When it came to the voting, the Southern proposals were defeated on a show of hands (99 to 47). However, the South had done its homework, demanded a card vote (which would include proxies) and won by 783 to 583. To those not involved in the politics of athletics at that time, it may have seemed incomprehensible that such passion could have been roused over the issue as, on the face of it, the advantage of one proposal over the other did not seem immediately apparent. It is also surprising that not one of those engaged in the debate saw the obvious compromise; that McAllister’s formula should be time limited to, say, five years to enable the BAF to settle down and thereafter replaced by the arguably more democratic Southern alternative. The problem was that, by this time, the degree of animosity between the various parties within the AAA was very intense and it became extremely difficult (probably impossible) for any of us to take a balanced view as every issue was seen through the prism of an entrenched point of view. With hindsight, it is possible to see that the Southern Counties, together with their leading lights, were genuinely fearful of losing their traditional influence in a larger organisation whereas others within the AAA were, equally genuinely, trying to introduce reform and were frustrated by what they saw as unreasonable opposition for the sake of it. It may also have been the case that ambitious individuals within England could foresee that, in future, the route to positions of power within the BAF would have to go indirectly (via the English AAA) and not, as in the past, directly from the regional associations. This would be an obstacle to be overcome by the English that the Celts would not face. Whatever the reasons, McAllister had lost so, once more, it was back to the drawing board. If the establishment of a BAF as a unified umbrella organisation for the whole of the sport was proving difficult, attempts were also being made to fulfil another strongly recommended reform, the merger of men’s and women’s separate organisations, particularly the AAA and the Women’s AAA, the women’s governing body in England.