AAI to look for All Ireland licence

THE Athletics Association of Ireland will have the opportunity to take a major step towards obtaining an athletics licence for the whole island of Ireland at their annual congress in Donegal next month.

If a Donegal motion succeeds then the quest for the licence may be pursued under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and all the indications at the moment would suggest a healthy volume of support for it.

Donegal delegates will propose that congress makes an immediate application to the IAAF, the world governing body, for one International Athletic Licence for the island of

Ireland. This licence, when granted would be held by the AAI.

“We further call on congress to instruct the incoming executive to actively seek the assistance of the Irish and British Governments, UK Athletics, all member countries of the IAAF and any other bodies or individuals that may help in securing a new International Athletic licence for the island of Ireland.”

And, yesterday, one leading AAI official, described the motion as interesting and said he would hope that it would get the support of congress.

Patsy McGonagle, himself a Donegal man and vice-president of the AAI, said that, in adopting the motion,

Athletics Ireland would give the nod to the Irish Government and the various Government Departments to deal with the issue under the auspices of the Good Friday Agreement.

“But let us be clear about one thing,” he said. “We are in no way trying to dominate those in the six counties who want to compete for Great Britain. They will still have that privilege and we won’t take it away from them.

“This is about a licence for the whole island of Ireland and those who want to compete for Great Britain can do so without any pressure from us whatsoever.

“I know that it is going to be a slow process but it is worth pursuing.

“Progress has been made through the agreement that brought about the formation of the Athletics Association of Ireland. Now we need to build on that.”

While the formation of the Athletics Association of Ireland brought BLE and the NACAI together and introduced a degree of co-operation with the NIAAF, it has been regarded generally as window dressing and did not remove the spirit of the infamous boundary rule which split Irish athletics since 1934.

That was when the then president of the IAAF, Mr Edstrom of Sweden, asked the delegates to endorse the decision of the council that Great Britain and Northern Ireland be accepted as one unit for athletic administration. Nine countries voted against Ireland and 10 abstained.

Now it would appear that, should cCongress pass this motion, there is a very real chance that the IAAF will grant a licence for the island of Ireland. Since the agreement that brought about the formation of the AAI, a group of individuals - mostly former officers of the NACAI have been working on a way to pursue such a licence.

It is understood that in recent times they have been in contact with the Taoiseach’s office and a representative of the Irish Sports Council. They put forward their case that the insistence of the IAAF in enforcing the political boundary rule in Ireland had no longer any legal status as the Good Friday Agreement had been fully accepted by the Irish and British governments.

However, to move it forward at this level it would need to come from the Athletics Association of Ireland, the recognised body who hold the current licence and representatives of the group met with representatives of the AAI in Mullingar recently.

And the case for a licence for the island of Ireland got a huge boost when the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Pat Hickey, took on the British Olympic Association head on when they tried to claim control of Northern Ireland.

Pat Hickey, an influential figure within the International Olympic Committee and secretary of the European Olympic Committees, took the row to the IOC and president Jacques Rogge held a special meeting to deal with the matter.

It all resulted in what can only be regarded as a very significant victory for the OCI president who left nobody in any doubt about the fact that they cherish their jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland and that it would not be changed. As things stand some 32 sports organisations are recognised by their governing bodies as representing the island of Ireland and, if congress should adopt the Donegal motion next month then athletics could be set to join them.