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

4 THE BIRTH OF BAF Introduction On 14 th August 1991, a lunch was held at the Randolph Hotel, Oxford to mark the end of the Amateur Athletic Association’s traditional role in British athletics and to usher in a new, modern, era under the umbrella of the British Athletic Federation. The great and the good of athletics were present to enjoy a modest lunch (ratatouille terrine, fillet of salmon, chocolate torte and coffee) and, after the formal toast to The Queen had been proposed by Dr Bill Evans, chairman of the General Committee, Cliff Temple, the popular coach and athletics correspondent of the Sunday Times , rose to propose the toast to “The Association”. After listening to Temple’s words on the AAA’s place in the history of the sport, Arthur McAllister, the President, responded by painting a picture of the future as he saw it. The proceedings concluded with presentations to the officers of the AAA, Women’s AAA and the Welsh AAA of mementoes and certificates of appreciation signed by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, President of the BAAB, a ceremonial signing of the minutes of the last AAA General Committee meeting and the singing of Auld Lang Syne. The choice of venue for the final lunch was significant as it was at the Randolph Hotel that the AAA had been formed 111 years before. Organised sport had existed in Britain for more than 200 years but, in the late nineteenth century, with Queen Victoria still on the throne, it entered a new phase with the spread of the governing body as something more than an entity that merely created rules. The Football Association was founded in 1863; the Rugby Football Association in 1871; and the Amateur Swimming Association in 1873. In athletics, the Amateur Athletic Club appeared in 1866 but enjoyed only a short life, until 1880, when the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) was formed. The first edition of the Olympic Games of the modern era would not be staged until 16 years later, in 1896.