Time for an Athlete's Association?

Racing Flat

Contentious issues in recent memory:

• Late Juvenile fixture change
• AAI in turmoil (although the thread has disappeared so perhaps that's all resolved now :rolleyes:)
• Team selection for Euro XC
• Lack of transparency re Olympic team selection(last minute call up of 3 B standards, story of one athlete being told but the other not that they were in a race off for a spot)
• Date of national track and field (not optimal time from international competition to get qualifying times)
• Insisting on Marathon A rather than B standard
• Funding
• DCU not working out quite as planned
• Facilities

Probably many more I can't remember. But what voice to athletes have to officially air these concerns? I'm not sure if the club committee/county board route is being used for this. Perhaps it's time for an Athlete's Association along the lines of the PFA (English socer players) or GPA (GAA). A group for athletes to join which will have a panel of representatives with a direct line to/seat on the board, to have their voice heard and look after athlete concerns and welfare.

Nice project for you Tingle :P?

--amadeus--

Racing Flat wrote: »

AAI in turmoil (although the thread has disappeared so perhaps that's all resolved now :rolleyes:)

That thread was removed because it had content that would have seen us nailed for libel.

As for teh bigger point... I see where you're coming from but wouldn't that just be more division and cause for politics and faction fighting?

Racing Flat

Not meaning a division, just a body to put their views forward within the same organisation. I imagine club committees put forward the views of the club, county board put forward the views of the County and try to improve things for club and county respectively, but maybe the athletes' specific voice needs to be heard?

Irishathlete_1

RF - I'm struggling to see the point in an AA at the moment. The PFA and GPA are in place to ensure that the players in the respective sports are not screwed over financially by the clubs/countys/countries.

Yes, they deal with other matters, however this is principally why any union is set up. As the AAI have barely got two pennies to rub together and there is no commercial interest in athletics in Ireland, I really think it would just be adding another layer of needless administration.

Racing Flat

Irishathlete_1 wrote: »

RF - I'm struggling to see the point in an AA at the moment. The PFA and GPA are in place to ensure that the players in the respective sports are not screwed over financially by the clubs/countys/countries.

Yes, they deal with other matters, however this is principally why any union is set up. As the AAI have barely got two pennies to rub together and there is no commercial interest in athletics in Ireland, I really think it would just be adding another layer of needless administration.

I'm just thinking of things like a few years ago when athletes seemed to be complaining anecdotally that the final date for achieving a qualifying time for the Olympics or Worlds was way too early. If they had a direct line of communication with the AI perhaps these things could be agreed together long in advance? And perhaps it could be agreed that 3 B standard athletes would be taken in the event that a certain quota do not get the A standard, well in advance so people could decide for themselves whether they want to take their chances going for e.g. a marathon B standard rather than a 10000m A standard.

Perhaps you're right and there's no need, but the AAI in turmoil thread had me thinking there was so much dissatisfaction with the organisation, but I'm not sure if that message is getting relayed as strongly as it should in the current (club committee and county board) set up.

RoyMcC

What would basically happen is that an AA would be promoted and initially led by a few strong, committed individuals. I suspect that very few other athletes would care little either way and would take no active part in such an association. (Such as happened with abortive coaches' associations in the UK).

Without the support and backing of an active membership it would become a fringe body at best.

But what I generally find is that the athletes' interests come low on the scale with administrators, officials, coaches etc believing they own the sport. It would be nice to see a change in this regard.

thirtyfoot

I don't know guys, I think there is an appetite for this listening to athletes at meets or even training. It was mentioned last year by helpisontheway but I thought it wouldn't work as it was like the GPA etc but this isn't about money. Its about the sport. Believe it or not the athletes really care about their sport. They hate to see crap going on. I have spoken to athletes of all levels about how their sport is run. They feel powerless. A group calling themselves 'The Athletes' could really make a difference. Maybe its just a lobby group who on serious issues make a statement or request a resolution and a meeting with the likes of a CEO or a President or High performance or Director of Athletics. Get the leader of athletes like Hession on board even as a front or a name or a signature at the end of submission. Nothing official, no costs, no money with just transparency and honesty from all sides. How about an open letter to the papers and the board and others from a list of a couple of hundred athletes (including big names) demanding a resolution to the currrent issues. It might not change anything but it might give the people involved some clarity as to what this should be about.

The only motivation would need to be a voice of the athletes. There isn't one now. Competition is what all athletes do this sport for. Yet the competition review committee has no athletes. Selection criteria need to be defined. I'd say most athletes would take a winner takes all approach in one race when there are selection questions. Would also make races like nationals more exciting.

I have thought about this and talked to people about athletes and coaches taking more action. This can involve organising independent coaching get togethers as the AAI ones don't work (its generally accepted that coaching progress is usually best in an ad hoc, on the job, relaxed almost workshop enviornement instead of textbook, standard course driven stuff), ensuring top athletes race against each other (the athletes and coaches can help here) etc etc, 'The athletes' or ' the coaches' group can do these things too. The Irish Milers Club is an example of an independent body who work for one sole aim - the athletes and their needs.

Racing Flat

A contentious issue I forgot - travel arrangements to the Olympics. Seemed to be widespread criticism at the time. I wonder how these arrangements were made? Any consultation with the athletes? You'd think there should be. Some form of athletes group might make things like that better.

emerald007

The content of the "AAI in turmoil" thread is cached by a popular search engine if people want to find it. I appreciate that the whole thread had to be delete, but it would seem that moderators should have the option to just delete individual posts rather than whole thread.

In terms of what we can do here, how about we get ready for the next AAI AGM (anybody know the date?) and we come up with proposals or nominate people who we think would serve the needs of athletes on the AAI committee.

thirtyfoot

emerald007 wrote: »

The content of the "AAI in turmoil" thread is cached by a popular search engine if people want to find it. I appreciate that the whole thread had to be delete, but it would seem that moderators should have the option to just delete individual posts rather than whole thread.

I don't think there was anything dodgy in that thread but when you start getting PM's regarding potential legal action etc etc even if you believe they are spoofing, then the advice from board legal helpers is to just delete.

helpisontheway

emerald007 wrote: »

The content of the "AAI in turmoil" thread is cached by a popular search engine if people want to find it. I appreciate that the whole thread had to be delete, but it would seem that moderators should have the option to just delete individual posts rather than whole thread.

In terms of what we can do here, how about we get ready for the next AAI AGM (anybody know the date?) and we come up with proposals or nominate people who we think would serve the needs of athletes on the AAI committee.

Yes i would agree that if people really want change then a huge effort must be made at the next congress to get it{The date should be available soon].There is no point in everyone coming on boards giving out about it if we are going to do nothing about it!:(
Is there anywhere we can talk about who needs to go and what motions and recommendations need to be made without worrying about legal action?If we can root out the people who are doing damage who is there to replace them?

thirtyfoot

helpisontheway wrote: »

next congress

When is that due - next 6 months?

helpisontheway

Tingle wrote: »

When is that due - next 6 months?

Early 2010,it was April in 2008 but id say there will be calls to have it as early as possible this time.

Milesandmiles

Racing Flat wrote: »

A contentious issue I forgot - travel arrangements to the Olympics. Seemed to be widespread criticism at the time. I wonder how these arrangements were made? Any consultation with the athletes? You'd think there should be. Some form of athletes group might make things like that better.

The flight arrangements to the Olympics were a total shambles. The guys tried to make the best of it and some of them (O´Rourke, Loughnane and Heffernan) made their own arrangements. The team arrangements were ridiculous - Dub-Frankfurt-Beijing-one night in the village-Tokyo-one night in Tokyo- Izumo. With an extra flight and night if the athlete wasn´t based in Duiblin.

As regards an AA, there is an athletes representative on the HP committee. Presumably he should be dealing with all the issues mentioned above. He was co-opted on.

ChickenTikka

helpisontheway wrote: »

who is there to replace them?

How about any would-be candidate for the various committees and the board coming onto a forum such as Boards with their manifesto for what they will do once on committees - i.e. what they will change/won't change. Present setup seems to be a nod and a wink amongst county boards and officials involved for a long time to get their preferred people on the various committees and the board. Problem is that if you are not involved for a long time, you don't know most of the people going for election. There also seems to be a regional bias in voting which isn't ideal.

If people with opinions on all of this want to be heard, they need to get involved in their county board and make their opinions known and also get nominated as a rep to Congress. At a guess, I'd say not very many members of county boards are reading boards.ie.

I went to my first Congress last year and it was a pretty monotonous affair - its not everyone's cup of tea to be there but ultimately it decides the organisation's rules and committee membership.

If people don't want to get involved at local club/county committee level, then unfortunately you have no way of influencing change other than vent your frustration here to like-minded people who may also have no way of influencing change!