Athletics Weekly

All I was advised early May that the Upper Timetable would be revised, and see adjustments per attached link : http://www.ukydl.org.uk/UKYDL%20Amended%20Timetables%20UAG.pdf Bit surprised by this debate which appears to being conducted in the absence of above changes. The May changes only altered t...

I fully support the reinstatement of the national junior league and the national young athletes league. The current format is an effing joke I agree that there are faults with the YDL especially with the under 20/17 section. The dropping of most non scorers is a major problem. However, we want to f...

The clubs in the Southern Premier Division 2 have been in correspondence with each other and agreed that the timetable in the Upper League is too long. The most common complaint was that it was difficult to keep athletes motivated and fit enough to compete in the relays at the end of the meeting. It...

It was an officials and not a coach and yes the NGB hasn't backed down. And yes it should be available over the internet in this day and age.

An update. After our official sent a stroppy email to UKA they have back tracked and informed him that they would not deactivate him if he showed an intention to attend a course. After some correspondence back and forth he is now booked on a course. Having been involved with H&S and Child Protec...

One of our officials has recently received a letter from UKA stating that since he not taken one of their "Officials Health and Safety" courses and unless he is able to attend one by 1st April he would be made "inactive" as an Official. Is anyone else in this position? It seems r...

Those suggesting that the proposed increases are legitimate miss an important point in all of this. The scheme as originally proposed in the Foster Report was to be a membership scheme with those signing on receiving tangible benefits from registration. No benefits were forthcoming and, to fulfil th...

With more than one athlete on the list a "split" vote was inevitable. Jessica plus Mo's votes add up to more than Bradley's. Total votes: 1,626,718 1. Bradley Wiggins 492,064 (30.25%) 2. Jessica Ennis 372,765 (22.92%) 3. Andy Murray 230,444 (14.17%) 4. Mo Farah 131,327 (8.07%) 5. David Wei...

The current economic climate and the area that my club draws many of its athletes from means fewer athletes next year. Using the justification that it brings athletics in line with other sports in terms of cost is not a decent excuse. I want athletics to be financially accessible to all. I think yo...

I think it's pretty clear they've been running things at a loss for a while.

The registration scheme itself has been making a profit. I don't think UKA/EA know how much money they are getting next year so they are jumping the gun somewhat hiking up the fees.

Why are non track athetes having to pay much less?

Perhaps they are scared that road runners might break away from the rest of the sport. But a lot of the talk in the leaflets sent out does relate to providing support to coaches and officials in track and field.

have not seen the paperwork, I assume they will contact individual members also? The mailing was to club secreataries only. The idea is that they are getting the info out ahead of club AGM's where increases in membership fees have to be approved and that such club memberships would include the incr...

Will be interesting how this £15 increase is going to be spent

I think the fact that they mailed clubs not one but two glossy leaflets trying to justify the rise when a letter would have sufficed indicates how money will be (mis)spent.

Personally I'm in favour of this, provided the money is spent wisely. We are an incredibly cheap sport, and that stands in the way of professionalisation making its way down to lower levels. We have some great coaches at club level, who sacrifice huge amounts of their time for free - chances are mo...

I’ve just had a letter I was in some ways expecting from England Athletics about future registration fees. As expected there will be a steep rise. The club affiliation of £50 stays the same but the others with planned year by year increases until April 2017 are: 2013 2014 2015 2016 Seniors £20 £21 £...

Just done a deeper analysis than just medal counting. If you take the top 8 in each event and score 8 points for first down to 1 point for eighth then in the 2008 Games GB scored 72 but in 2012 scored 82.5 (half point on tied place). We had 18 athletes/relay teams in the top 8 in 2008 and 19 in 2012...

We have already been informed by the management of our local track that the water provider have told them that the hosepipe ban applies to athletics tracks. So that means no waterjump for the steeplechase and using watering cans to maintain the jumps pits. Anyone else encountered a problem yet or kn...

BBC News Web site Child safety vetting scheme 'to be scrapped' A scheme for vetting people who work with children is to be scrapped, the government is preparing to announce. The Daily Telegraph reports that following a review of the Vetting and Barring scheme, criminal record checks will only be ca...

After all the fuss "Alba" only turned out one athlete in the 100m, an Edinburgh athlete.

But the CRB legislation and the need for checks on anyone involved in regular contact with kids in a "job" (paid or unpaid) remains. But there is no longer the same legal imperative and penalties hanging over the sport that VBS would have brought in. In was interesting reading the Have Yo...

VBS was going to have a profound affect on athletics and so is relevant.

Goodbye and good riddance http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/10314055.stm The vetting scheme for nine million people working with children and vulnerable adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has been halted. Home Secretary Theresa May has announced that registration, due to begin next mon...

There are certain rights in society which are controlled, for these rights we have registers of who has them, like driving lisences, electoral registers, National Insurnace numbers. When you try to exercise this right you have to prove you have the right to do it. The difference between the example...

The fact that 10 years ago the legislation didn't exist is irrelevant. It exisit now and we do not have a say in it. I don't know where you like but I live in the UK which is a democracy and yes we do have a right to have a say. Other groups (e.g. authors visting schools) have been vocal and had ru...

The whole debate has absolutely nothing to do with how the sport should be run. There is a Law. The Law says that all people with a duty of care for young people and vulnerable adults require a CRB check to ensure that they have no history of offences that would deem them unsuitable for such a role...

I am going to stop dsicussing his now, it is obvious that we both have our positions, and equally obvious that ou are not goign to provide an exmaple (whcih is this where this all started) of something not in the VBS legislation that you think UKA shoudl have lobbied for. Fair enough about stopping...

You surely are not saying that the data protetion issues of geneaology are the same as criminal offences? They are certainly quite serious if you obtain enough information on a person (e.g. date of birth and address) to use their ID for fraudulant purposes. My local cases don't make the national ne...

Do you really think club secretaries or CPO's are the right people to be checking ID's? The current system expects CPO's to see a person's passport so they are checking an ID. However this is another flaw. Unless a club has the luxury of someone who is involved with the Immigration service, how do ...

Simple question, what is your alternative that provides AT LEAST as much protection? In the computer age a club secretary should be able to do all this on line. Just simply enter a person's name and perhaps date of birth or even download a list of club athletes and officials and get an instant resp...

No one has said it is a conviction free environment, so where did you pull that from? Unfortunately, some of the wording on the Independent Safeguard Authority web site is ambiguous enough to give that impression. For example the phrases "There is risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults&...