AAI membership rules - different countries

TFBubendorfer

Can someone clarify the rules regarding club membership for different countries to me?

As far as I know Sergio Ciobanu is and was a member of an Irish club (Clonliffe Harriers) but would have run the Olympic marathon for Moldova had be managed to qualify. Was he a member of a Moldavian club at the same time?

There was a similar setup with Sonia O'Sullivan, once she acquired an Australian passport she was eligible to run for both Australia and Ireland, so I presume she was a member of an Irish and Australian club at the same time (I could be wrong, of course).

I know you cannot be a full member of 2 clubs within the same national setup at the same time. But is it possible to be a member of 2 clubs in 2 different countries? Either way, can someone point me to the relevant rules as I wasn't able to find anything? Thanks!

RayCun

TheRoadRunner was a member of a UK club (Westbury Harriers?) when he ran London, as well as the bunch of reprobates. Why not mail the registrations manager moiraaston@athleticsireland.ie ?

dna_leri

Here is the IAAF Competition Rules

Extract:

No athlete affiliated to a National Federation may be affiliated to
another Member without previous authorisation from his National
Federation of origin, if the Rules of that Federation require such
authorisation. Even then, the National Federation of the Country or
Territory in which the athlete is residing cannot enter any athlete’s
name for competitions in another Country or Territory without
previous authorisation from the National Federation of origin.

IAAF rule 5 on the eligibility to represent a member Federation (here) was amended in 2012.

TFBubendorfer

dna_leri wrote: »

IAAF rule 5 on the eligibility to represent a member Federation (here) was amended in 2012.

I think I need a lawyer. Or maybe I'm just too thick.

4. (e) if an athlete holds Citizenship of two (or more) Countries (or
Territories), he may represent the Member of either (or any) of them, as he may
elect.

So, if you take a purely hypothetical case where an athlete has never represented any country in an international competition but holds dual citizenship, he/she could represent either, as is clearly stated in the above paragraph. Does that imply that he/she would be allowed to be a member of a club in two countries at the same time?

RacoonQueen

There shouldn't be an issue with being a member of two clubs in two different countries at the same time. I can't see why there would be.

RayCun

Really, you should check with the AAI and the Austrian (?) federation, but I think the key bit for you is the start of section 2

An athlete who has never competed in an International Competition under Rules
1.1(a), (b), (c), (f) or (g) shall be eligible to represent a Member in an International
Competition under Rules 1.1(a), (b), (c), (f) or (g) if he is:

you haven't represented your country before, so things are very simple. You can choose

a Citizen of the Country (or Territory) by virtue of having been born or by virtue of
having a parent or grandparent born in the Country (or Territory);

or

a Citizen of the Country (or Territory) through the acquisition of a new Citizenship
but, in such a case, he may represent his new Member no earlier than one year
following the date of acquisition of new Citizenship pursuant to the athlete’s
application.

most of that section is about representing one country and changing to another


and as far as I can see, the IAAF don't really care about club membership. They're administering international competition, they are concerned about the rules for representing your country in that competition. Club membership is irrelevant

brutes1

AAI and ANI ( Northern Ireland ) have these rules re competing, but you can I take it, be a member of a club in both the North and Republic.
http://www.athleticsni.org/download/files/AGM-MotionBC.pdf

Competition is a different issue as the position is you can only compete in the island of Ireland for one club

We have members in our club who are also UK ( Scotland/England) club members and compete for both in various competitions

I would say yes no issue re being a club member

international level is separate and IAAF rules per dnaleri are those to follow

dna_leri

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I think I need a lawyer. Or maybe I'm just too thick.



So, if you take a purely hypothetical case where an athlete has never represented any country in an international competition but holds dual citizenship, he/she could represent either, as is clearly stated in the above paragraph. Does that imply that he/she would be allowed to be a member of a club in two countries at the same time?

Regarding being a member of a club in two countries, the rule above says that if e.g. the AAI require you to get AAI authorisation before joining a club in another country, (e.g. USA) then you must get authorisation from the AAI. Also if the USA wants you to represent them, then you must get permission from the AAI before doing so.

In practice the AAI does not seem concerned about dual club memberships.
Regarding a first time international representation, I agree with what RayCun says.

RoyMcC

Strangely neither AAI or EA seem to be concerned with my membership of both Crusaders and Jersey Spartan :-)

TFBubendorfer

Thanks for the replies, everyone. As suggested, I contacted the AAI registrations manager and they confirmed that there are no restrictions on joining a club outside of Ireland.

Hard Worker

I know of one athlete who was a member of a club here in Ireland and also in the U.K. and Latvia at the same time.
Born in Latvia, moved to U.K. and joined a club there, then moved to Ireland and joined a club here. Retained his membership in all clubs.