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

53 The ticking time bombs tensions between the Council (which was jealous of its rights) and the Management Board and, from time to time, boiled over into outright hostility. I was familiar with company procedures and drew this discrepancy to the attention of solicitor Charles Woodhouse with a plea that he advise a clearer division of responsibilities. Woodhouse was sympathetic to the point I was stressing and that I was fearful it would lead to conflict. He was respected and I believe that his advice would almost certainly have been accepted but he declined to intervene, taking the view that it was up to the sport to decide on how it wanted to manage its affairs; a great pity. A further problem that exacerbated an already delicate situation was the number of different hats that individuals would wear depending on the forum. So it was, for example, that a management board member, having participated in a decision as a member of the management board, could attend a Council meeting as a representative of, say, a regional association and vote with his colleagues on the same subject in a completely different way. A second flaw was built into the very raison d’être of the BAF itself. It was widely assumed that the BAF was set up as the governing body of athletics in the UK. For it to be able to deliver this effectively the BAF needed the power to make decisions and, if necessary, to insist on its decisions prevailing if there should be a difference of opinion within the sport. Such a power was not only omitted from the BAF’s constitution but the opposite was written in. The objects contained within the Memorandum of Association specifically limited BAF’s role to “ the United Kingdom and international affairs of Athletics ”, leaving open the possibility to argue that regional affairs were not the business of the BAF. Furthermore, the objects went on to say that BAF should “ secure, as far as possible, a uniform policy......in the UK and....to co-operate with National, Regional... Associations and to accept any functions....transferred....to the Federation on such terms as may be agreed between the respective National, Regional Associations and the Federation .” This was hardly a ringing endorsement of a new, powerful, body and contrasted with the old constitution of the AAA wherein the Area Associations were under the jurisdiction of the General Committee of the AAA.