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It is shameful that the board of the AAA of England should employ tactics in order to force through Sport England's agenda, to arrest control of athletics from the Clubs.
If the AAA of England have been part of the Foster Project for two years, the question must be asked why are they imposing conditions on a process which they have been party to?
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the conditions set by the AAA of England have already been approved by the Foster Project Board, and they are merely a tactical manoeuvre to create the illusion of successful negotiations on behalf of the clubs, and enable the process to march relentlessly onwards.
The Foster Review debate can broadly be broken down into two philosophies:
Top Down
- Those who believe that a person appointed to the top can create a strategy which will be effectively communicated downwards, through tiers of management and bureacracy, and implemented successfully by an unpaid voluntary workforce.
Grass Roots Up
- Those who believe that the enthusiasm and energy at the grass roots level should be harnessed and organised, and driven upwards to invigorate the sport throughout the pyramid.
This web site is strongly in favour of the Grass Roots Up option.
Nobody is pretending that the existing system is working perfectly. Clearly it isn't. The AAA of England has been lacking in leadership for many years. It has lost the confidence and skills to properly represent the interests of its membership. However the structure is sound, and it can refresh itself once the clubs recognise that they have a viable vehicle with which they can drive the sport.
The alternative is for the clubs to surrender the ownership of the sport. This is the Sports Council's favoured option, which will be led by the new quango England Athletics, and UK Athletics who will be accountable to Sport England and UK Sport.
AAA of England's Proposed Conditions
1. Finance
- The AAA of England Board shall receive and agree a copy of the detailed financial plan for England Athletics.
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Sport England are controlling this takeover, and they will underwrite any financial plan which will allow them to arrest control from the AAA of England. Other sports have testified that Sport England often fail to honour their financial committments.
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- The AAA of England would hope to provide some funds from its reserves to assist England Athletics.
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England Athletics is being created under a pretence that £20 million pounds of legacy money will follow. Why do they need to empty the AAA of England's tiny reserves?
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2. Membership
- The England membership scheme will be club (rather than individually) based. The England membership fee to be no more than £5.00 for each of the first three years of England Athletics. Any increase in the England membership fee is to be agreed by the members.
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This will create an administrative and financial headache for clubs and voluntary workers. It is ridiculous for the club to be taxed £1,000 for every 200 members, in the hope they will receive the money back eventually. Clubs must keep all the money they collect from their members for the immediate benefit of their members.
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- The Distribution of membership money shall reflect the needs of the Regions, Territories, England, the members and administration.
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What does reflect the needs actually mean? The best way to meet the needs, is for clubs to retain subscriptions from their members.
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3. Affiliation
- Clubs and other bodies shall be affiliated to England Athletics for competition and other purposes.
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This innocuous statement is the meat which surrenders all control to the Sport England quango England Athletics. Clubs own and populate the 3 existing regions and the AAA of England. Affiliation to England Athletics means exchanging ownership of the sport for complience with an agenda set from above.
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- The distribution of the affiliation money shall reflect the needs of the Regions, Territories and England.
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What level of influence does the club enjoy for this 2nd tax. It appears that their is no intention to share any of this income with clubs.
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4. Unattached Levies
- 50% of the unattached levy fee should be allocated to the appropriate Special Association and the balance for approved distribution by England Athletics, taking into account the needs of those bodies currently receiving funds.
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Allocated by who? The new Sport England quango England Athletics in the future will be free to change the distribution of money at any time they choose, without consultation.
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5. Competition
- The AAA of England does not wish to change the good aspects of existing organisations to be competition providers and requires England Athletics to give total support to the provision of competition in all disciplines by the Clubs, Counties, Special Associations and Territories, and to form a structure to provide English Championships and competition for England teams.
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Beware of sensible sounding suggestions which disguise the enormous damage to the sport which is being proposed. Currently every club has the opportunity to nominate members onto the County or Regional Associations. Accordingly clubs are able to influence how their collective subscriptions are spent. This proposal is removing all potential for the existing regions to represent the clubs, and creating instead a group of competition organising sub committees with no mandate beyond the competitions they organise. England Athletics will influence the success or failure of any competition by starving it of finance.
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6. Roles and Responsibilities
- The description of the roles and responsibilities of England Athletics, when received must be accepted as part of the new arrangements. Likewise, a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of UK Athletics must be agreed and both documents approved in order that the whole sport is clear from the outset as to their respective positions and duties in the new structure.
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Because the new structure is a top-down affair, it matters very little which responsibilities are vested in UK Athletics or England Athletics. This is a matter of moving the desks upstairs or downstairs. What matters is how the aspirations of Sport England will look, after they have been converted into a strategy by UK Athletics, and implemented by England Athletics via the hubs, and dumped onto the shoulders of a voluntary workforce.
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Clubs are urged to reject these proposals, and instead particpate in the administration of the County and Regional and National Associations.
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