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

77 Management challenges prodigious amounts of time devoted to the sport by so many dedicated men and women. It gradually became obvious that a totally honorary top management was coming under more and more strain. As the sport grew in importance it was far too risky to rely on good administrators becoming available through the old system and calls for more professional leadership became louder. In 1968 Byers had strongly favoured the appointment of a chief executive but nothing had been done. The renewed impetus towards a single governing body that resulted in the BAF in 1991 had also reawakened the demand for better management under a chief executive. The early mismanagement of the AAA-BAAB’s TV finances which had led to the bankruptcy of the BAAB had also exposed weaknesses in the professional management structure. One gap was hurriedly closed by the appointment of Malcolm Jones as financial controller and, as we have seen, Andy Norman had been appointed Promotions Officer. Thus, in the mid 1980s, the AAA employed a General Secretary (Mike Farrell) who reported to the (honorary) chairman of the General Committee, the BAAB employed a General Secretary (Nigel Cooper) who answered to the (honorary) chairman of the BAAB and a Director of Coaching (Frank Dick) who answered to the (honorary) chairman of the coaching committee. Promotions Officer Andy Norman answered to the BAAB for international matters, to the AAA for domestic matters and to the JSC for TV and marketing matters. Financial Controller Malcolm Jones answered to the AAA’s honorary treasurer for AAA matters and to the BAAB’s honorary treasurer for BAAB matters. The Evans report on the formation of a BAF had been debated at length by the BAAB Council at its meeting on 14 February 1986. The report had come down against a chief executive, favouring the appointment of a “part time, paid, chairman” but, during the debate, a strong case had been made for a full time professional head to whom all the professional staff would answer and who would himself answer to the BAF chairman. Amongst those advocating a chief executive had been Andy Norman, the Promotions Officer. This case would be made frequently during the slow progress toward the BAF but, in the meantime, the sport’s management continued as before.