Scottish Athletics

Last updated
Scottish Athletics
Scottish Athletics Logo.jpg
Sport Athletics
AbbreviationSA
Founded1 April 2001
Affiliation UK Athletics
ReplacedScottish Athletics Federation
Official website
www.scottishathletics.org.uk

Scottish Athletics, stylised as scottishathletics, is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Scotland. As such it is responsible for organising annual championships, maintaining rules for competition and ratifying records. It also selects teams for international competition, and coordinates courses for those aspiring to coach or officiate at meetings. Scottish Athletics is a member of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, and part of UK Athletics, the national governing body for the sport in the United Kingdom. It was established as a limited company on 1 April 2001, when it succeeded the Scottish Athletics Federation (SAF), which had in turn succeeded the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association that had organised the sport since its inception in February 1883.

Contents

History

On Thursday 25 January 1883 there was a meeting, in Edinburgh, of interested parties, to discuss the formation of an association, "similar to that recently formed in London" and to consider the promotion of an annual championship meeting. On Monday 26 February the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association was formed. They received letters of support and affiliation from various athletic bodies throughout Scotland, and a few days later they appointed their first set of officials, published their first list of affiliated clubs, thirteen in number, and announced that their first championship would be held at the Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 23 June. [1]

Within the athletics community itself this was perceived to be an East of Scotland affair, while the majority of the clubs that held sports of their own were to be found at that time in the West of Scotland, including Clydesdale Harriers, the oldest athletics club in Scotland. These clubs, twelve in number, held a meeting of their own, in a Glasgow hotel, on Tuesday 6 March, where they formed their own association called the West of Scotland Amateur Athletic Association. They scheduled their championship to be held at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, on Saturday 16 June 1883. These championships can, therefore, justifiably claim to have been the first truly representative athletic championships to be held in Scotland. [1]

Only twenty athletes turned up for that first championship meeting, but they did introduce a very important innovation. Unlike the AAA Championships in London, which were open to the whole world, the West of Scotland AAA championships were open only to those who had been born in Scotland, or who had lived there for the previous three months.

The rival Scottish AAA championship at Powderhall the following week was much more popular, and in every event except the high jump, the standard of performance was also a little higher. Their only qualification for entry was that competitors should be members of affiliated clubs. Over the winter negotiations proceeded and by March 1884 the two rival associations were ready to agree terms. The championship would be held alternately in the East and the West, the organising committee would have three delegates from each district, the President and the vice-President should be drawn from opposite districts, and they would retain the condition that entry was open only to those who were born in or lived in Scotland. The residential qualification was increased to six months in 1912, to two years in 1961, and in 2002 it was increased to three years.

The first Scottish AAA championship was held at Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 23 June 1883 and they have, with very few exceptions, always subsequently been held on a Saturday in June. In 1931 when it became necessary for there to be sufficient number of preliminary heats for the tournament to spread over two days, these heats and the longest track race were held on the Friday evening before the main championship. The 10 miles championship, which started in 1886, has always been held separately, but that first year they followed the English model from the AAA championship and had it on the Monday following the track events. That did not prove popular and they soon moved it to April. [2] [3]

The Scottish Cross Country Union was formed in 1886 and they held their first national championship at Lanark in March of that year. The Scottish Women’s Amateur Athletic Association was formed in 1930 and held their first national championships in 1931. In October 1992 the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association, the Scottish Women’s Amateur Athletic Association and the Scottish Cross Country Union merged into one overall governing body for the sport in Scotland known as the Scottish Athletics Federation, and this was in turn succeeded by Scottish Athletics on 1 April 2001. [4] [5] [6] [7]

International athletics began in 1895 with a match against Ireland. This became an annual fixture repeated every year until 1913, then in 1914 England were invited and it became a triangular match which continued until 1952. Between 1967 and 1975 the four home nations, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, contested a British Isles Cup although this was not held every year. From 1960 Scotland also had international matches against Holland, Belgium, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and various others. The first junior international was held in 1978 against England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.The first Scottish athlete to win a medal in the Olympic Games was Arthur Robertson, a member of Birchfield Harriers who had been born in Sheffield, but his father John, a doctor, had been born in Dalziel, near Motherwell. The first Scottish woman to win an Olympic medal was Linsey MacDonald, who won a bronze medal for the 4 x 400 metres relay in Moscow in 1980.

From the beginning there was only one category of record, which only required the performance to have been achieved in Scotland. These are now referred to as Scottish All-comers records. In 1888 it was established that athletes needed to submit a claim to have their record ratified, and from 1893 records were divided into two categories. The actual names of and qualification for these categories changed over the years, but the essential feature of them all was the distinction being made between records achieved by a Scottish athlete, and records achieved by athletes from anywhere in the world. All these records had to be set in Scotland itself. To determine who counted as a Scottish athlete, they defaulted to qualification for the championship, and this remained the case until 1932.

In 1933 Scottish AAA introduced the Scottish Native Record, which replaced the championship qualification, so that from that date there were Scottish Native Record, and Scottish All-comers Record. In 1961 they changed the name of the Native record to National record, and in 1964 they first distinguished between records set inside Scotland and those set elsewhere in the world, maintaining initially two lists of these records. This didn't work very well so at the AGM of 21 December 1968 they re-introduced the Native record to give the following three records:

Scottish National Record: Performance made anywhere in the world by an athlete who was born in Scotland, or who has one or more parents who were born in Scotland, or who is qualified through residence in Scotland, and has not made themselves ineligible to represent Scotland in international competition.

Scottish Native Record: Performance made in Scotland, by an athlete who was born in Scotland, or who has one or more parents who were born in Scotland, or is qualified through residence in Scotland, and has not made themselves ineligible to represent Scotland in international competition.

Scottish All-comers Record: Performance made in Scotland, by an athlete from anywhere in the world. [8]

Scottish Athletics has a small staff of volunteers who deal with approximately 14,000 members in approximately 170 clubs of varying size from those with several hundred members to specialist clubs and those for minority interests to accommodate all areas of athletics within Scotland. [9]

Governance

Scottish Athletics is a Limited Company (SC217377 [4] ), with no Share Capital. Its membership is primarily affiliated athletics clubs in Scotland and members, but may also include schools, companies and associate members. Only clubs, schools and associated members may vote at the AGM, through mandated delegates. The Chief Executive is Colin Hutchinson. [10]

The Board of Directors oversees the operation of the company. The President is Ron Morrison. [11] The role of chairman has been held by David Ovens since September 2021. [10]

Commissions

Formal commissions oversee the day to day operation of specific areas, [12] including the operation of certain championships and series, team selection and development of officials.

See also

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The 1886 Scottish Athletics Championships were the fourth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at the Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh on Saturday 26 June 1886. Although the weather was fine a strong west wind affected the attendance, and the Field commented that, "it is to be regretted that the followers of athletics will not accord their patronage to Powderhall, than which there is no finer inclosure in the kingdom." The wind also affected performances in many events and no records were set on the day. But in the ten miles track race on the following Monday Alexander Findlay rewrote the record book for distance running in Scotland. Colonel John Macdonald, the Lord Advocate, presented the prizes.

The 1887 Scottish Athletics Championships were the fifth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 25 June 1887. Very hot weather was blamed for the low attendance of "probably not more than a thousand," but the Glasgow Police Sports held the same afternoon attracted a crowd of over 3,000 spectators. At Hampden Park, Ernest Latimer Stones broke the Scottish record for the pole vault with his winning height of 11 feet (3.35m). Born at Ulverston in the English Lake District in 1865, he played football for Partick Thistle, tied with Tom Ray for the AAA pole vault title in 1888, and won it outright in 1889. At Southport in June 1888, he set a world record of 11 feet 7 inches (3.53m). He will eventually win the Scottish title three times, and his Scottish record for the event of 11 feet 4 inches (3.45m) will not be broken in Scotland until 1924, and not by a Scottish athlete until 1930. The half mile was won by John Braid who competed in the Olympic Games in 1900, playing cricket, for France. Alex Findlay won the inaugural 4 miles championship on the Saturday, and in the 10 miles championship, held at the same venue on the following Monday, set a Scottish All-comers record for 9 miles en route to defending the title he had won last year, and was less than five seconds outside his own record for 10 miles. The prizes were presented by Mrs A. M. Hunter, the wife of the Hon. Sec. Scottish AAA, who will serve as President of the association in 1890.

The 1888 Scottish Athletics Championships were the sixth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 23 June 1888. The meet was held in "splendid" weather, and the track was reported to be "in first rate order," but a slight easterly wind affected performances. Ernest Stones set a Scottish All-comers record in defending his pole vault title. Three days after finishing second in the 4 miles at the championship Andrew Hannah set a Scottish All-comers record at the event running 21:02 2/5 at Ibrox Park, Glasgow. This was the first in a long list of almost three dozen records Hannah will set over the next seven years at all distances from 2 miles to 10 miles, becoming the dominant Scottish distance runner of the decade. For the first time the 10 miles championship was held separately, being held at the Powderhall Grounds on Saturday 7 April, and with twice as many entrants as any previous year the experiment was continued in the future. It didn't, however, affect the result with Alex Findlay easily retaining his title shortly before emigrating to the United States. The chief judge at the championships, in his year as President of the association, was M. P. Fraser of Glasgow University AC.

The 1889 Scottish Athletics Championships were the seventh national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 22 June 1889. The championship prizes were presented by Mrs M. P. Fraser, wife of the President of the association.

The 1890 Scottish Athletics Championships were the eighth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 21 June 1890. The prizes were presented by A. M. Hunter, President of the association.

The 1895 Scottish Athletics Championships were the thirteenth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 22 June 1895.

References

  1. 1 2 Scottish Athletics, John W. Keddie (1982)
  2. ↑ "Penny Illustrated Paper", Sat 30 Jun 1883 p. 10
  3. ↑ "Sporting Gazette", Sat 30 Jun 1883 p. 27
  4. 1 2 "Scottish Athletics Limited, Company Number SC217377". companieshouse.gov.uk. Companies House. 11 Nov 2019.
  5. ↑ "Home - Scottish Athletics". scottishathletics.org.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2018. Copyright © 2014 Scottish Athletics
  6. ↑ McGhie, Laura (8 May 2018). "Scottish Athletics chief executive Mark Munro backs new testosterone rules". BBC.com. BBC Scotland.
  7. ↑ "Scottish Athletics celebrate a further year of Lottery Funding". sportscotland.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
  8. ↑ Scottish Athletics Record Book
  9. ↑ "2019 Annual Report". Scottish Athletics. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  10. 1 2 "Colin Hutchison steps into Scottish Athletics CEO role". Athletics Weekly . Retrieved 2021-04-23.
  11. ↑ "Plenty to celebrate both on and off the track for Fife AC". Fife Today. October 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ↑ "Commissions". scottishathletics.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
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