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

45 The home straight? that, as events turned out and as I shall describe, they chose rather to undermine it. When, at a later date, there was an external review of the deteriorating situation, the reviewer came to the view that those who represented the AAA of England were going through a sort of grieving process for the old AAA, which meant that their actions were driven by deep emotions rather than reason. But this is to get ahead of myself as the BAF had yet to be born; and, at long last, the financial arrangements were being addressed. It had long been taken for granted that the BAF would take over the lion’s share of the responsibilities previously shared between the AAA and the BAAB and that, consequently, the major part of the financial resources then held in the name of the AAA would also be transferred to BAF. As Treasurer, it fell to me to produce a financial proposal. This I did and presented it to the Finance and General Purposes Committee on 7 th December 1990. It was relatively easy to identify the respective responsibilities of the BAF and the AAA of England and it was readily agreed that BAF would handle all the commercial contracts with TV and sponsors as well as all other matters of a British nature, including the UK wide coaching scheme, international competition, rules, anti doping control, etc. From this it could be calculated that BAF would need a budget of around £2.6 million per year rising to £3m within 3 years. The equivalent figure for the AAA of England, now with much reduced responsibilities, would be around £250,000 annually. I proposed that the BAF should be responsible for and retain all the income from the commercial activities (essentially TV and sponsorship income) and that this, together with other income of a British nature (Sport Council grants for coaching, for example) would be sufficient to cover costs and produce a surplus. I suggested that the AAA of England should receive an annual grant commensurate with its legitimate needs and that appropriate assistance should also be provided for the associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In separate discussions, the Welsh men were to receive a “golden handshake” of £100,000 from the AAA in return for their secession.