OPINION PIECE
a mass participation event – it was the definition of
social distancing, with competitors strung out along
the route. So what is stopping us having elite senior
competitions, whether they are track & field, cross
country, road, race walking, etc?
STRUCTURAL SHORTCOMINGS
The structure of the sport in South Africa is the
problem. The current office bearers – it is hard to call
them leaders, when they are not leading – cannot
envisage a sport that is not (a) mass participation, (b) for
schools, and/or (c) for masters. They can only conceive
of packed stands full of schoolchildren, or crowded
starts and finishes at mass participation road races.
This creates the conflict between the need for training
and competition of the elite seniors, and the risks
of mass participation. We have no hope of being
competitive at the Olympic Games if it is not a priority
for the national federation to organise competitions
and make it possible for elite athletes to train at
proper facilities. Using an outdated ‘Olympic squad’
does not help, as it excludes other athletes on the
fringe and means that when competition resumes, the
gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ will be
enormous.
I have previously written (Edition 122 - September
2019) about how athletics in South Africa remains
untransformed. It clings to old colonial and apartheidera
boundaries, referring to regions as provinces, even
though their borders are not those of the provinces
in the country. Also, the apartheid-era division of the
sport into silos also remains intact, with separate
divisions for track & field, cross country and road
running. The only transformation has been from the
national federation catering primarily for competitive
athletics, to becoming more focused on mass
participation, and even then more for schools and
masters athletes.
The pool of athletes who will perform at the Olympics
and World Championships is getting smaller and
smaller. One only needs to look at how few regions
still hold championships for senior track & field and
cross country, and how few entries there are in some
events at SA Champs.
TIME TO DIFFERENTIATE
So what is the answer? As part of the overall
transformation of athletics from the one based on
colonial/apartheid-era lines to a body that aligns itself
with the modern South African boundaries, athletics
Relatively small fields in middle distance
races on the track seem a safe option
must also distinguish between competitive and mass
participation events. There are overseas precedents
for this, and one of the options that can be used is to
create league and non-league clubs (and events).
If one attends any club meeting of the present regional
federations, you will realise that the majority of the
clubs have two traditional concerns: When will they
receive their licences, and what are the road running
fixtures. They have little or no concern as to whether
there will be a league competition in track and field,
when the provincial championships will be held, how
teams will be selected for national champs, etc. When
fixture lists are drawn up, there is little regard for
what’s best for the competitive athletes. With a very
few exceptions, the only clubs who care about those
issues are the student clubs and the professional
(mostly road) clubs.
Will a league structure affect the ‘recreational’ runners
and clubs? No. They will still take part in their road
races and other events, as they currently do. They
will still get their licence numbers. So how will it
make a difference to the elite athletes? For starters,
they can develop regular league competitions, where
athletes regularly compete for their clubs in inter-club
competitions. These athletes will go back to being
valuable components of a club.
Social distancing means races may be initially limited
to just 300 runners when they are allowed again
With a league structure, the league clubs can
choose their representatives for committees, rather
than having recreational clubs (which form the vast
majority) voting for people to serve on committees
that need to make very technical decisions. The
non-league clubs will also have their own structures
to ensure their needs are catered for. For example,
a ‘league’ athlete is traditionally concerned about
qualifying standards and team selection. A ‘nonleague’
athlete is more concerned about how many
toilets there are at the start of a road race, and if they
will get a medal when they finish. Even if committee
members have the knowledge and experience to
be able to decide on both, it is unlikely they can
effectively give their attention to these completely
different matters.
FOCUSED INTERESTS
Will this divide the sport? No, because there are
areas of joint interest between league and non-league
clubs. They would both fall under the umbrella of the
athletic federations at national and regional level. For
example, hosting road races for only 100 athletes is
seldom worthwhile. The mass participation entrants
make the event economically viable. In many ways,
it would be difficult for the average entrant to tell the
difference, since they will still have the same races
and will still get their licence numbers. They will also
have a committee to address the issues important to
them. The difference will really be that the competitive
clubs organise their own competitions and look after
the athletes who want to compete.
The only people who will be negatively affected
are the ‘politicians’ who rely on votes from mass
participation clubs to get onto committees that
determine the fate of the elite athletes. And that is not
a bad thing. If this structure were already in place,
the league clubs could be working with government
to devise a plan where the elite athletes can start to
compete again in a safe manner. Unfortunately, social
distancing means that mass participation events will
take longer to become a reality.
Sadly, for now, because of the outdated structures
we currently have in South African athletics, no-one is
going to be competing until everyone can compete,
even though other countries are finding ways to make
it happen. COVID-19 has really shown the flaw in our
structures… but will anyone have the courage to do
anything about it?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
The author of this piece, James Evans, is the former President of ASA and of Western Province Athletics, and is
an active middle and long distance coach based in the Cape. The views expressed in this opinion piece are his,
and may not coincide with those of the editorial team at Modern Athlete, and are printed here to stimulate debate.
All readers are welcome to respond to this piece by sending comments to [email protected].
Images: Roger Sedres/ImageSA & courtesy Top Events
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ISSUE 132 JULY 2020 / www.modernathlete.co.za