The Womble And The White Flag

Regular reader of this blog will know that I have had a bee in my bonnet about my enforced membership of England Athletics (EA), courtesy of my local athletics club. Basically when I joined the athletics club, they passed my details on to EA, to whom they are affiliated. EA sent me a membership card I didn't want and charged me £5 for the privilege.



I've argued my case with both the athletics club and with EA themselves. I had a number a very civil email conversations with the club's General Secretary, who said that subscriptions were democratically decided at the AGM and there was no option; you were either members of both organisations or of neither. For their part EA, having previously said that members of affiliated clubs could "opt out" of EA membership, later back-tracked and said that if an affiliated club wished to refuse to offer their members such an opt-out, that was up to them, and that there was nothing they (EA) would do about it.

Last week the club chairman confronted me in front of my 12-year-old daughter and told me in no uncertain terms to "drop it", and that the club would "not budge", citing administrative difficulties of having a two-tier membership system where some belonged to EA and some did not. He also accused me of "harassing" the club's administrator, whom I have written to once, at the start of all this in December. He did later withdraw that allegation and apologise, but only after I protested vigorously and very nearly lost my temper entirely.

It was shortly after that that I decided to resign from the club. I despise myself for doing it. I feel as if I'm giving in. Some people would have fought on, drumming up support and taking motions to the AGM, telling bullies from officialdom exactly where to go along the way. The reality I have to face is that I'm not like that. I'd love to be, but I'm not. I'm not charismatic or even a good conversationalist. I never even talked to any club members about this issue, so I'd have been starting from Ground Zero. And the prospect was just too damned hard. I didn't have the guts, the energy, the resourcefulness or maybe even the ability to change something that was, in the scheme of things, oh so small.

I know I come on here and blast the likes of David Cameron for showing a lack of courage, and I have to accept that I'm guilty of exactly the same charge. There is a difference I guess, which is that he's put himself in the political arena and asked people to put their trust in him, whereas I haven't. All the same, I had a chance to try and change something I felt strongly about, and I've blown it.

Maybe I should go away and read Gordon Brown's book.

Running Tax & Closed Shop Update

Just before Christmas I described how, as a member of my local athletics club, I was, without my knowledge, an affiliate member of England Athletics and paying an affiliation fee for the privilege. Given that this was never made clear to me and that the benefits appeared to be nil, I was none too pleased. I wrote to the club seeking clarification.

"Clarification" I now have, or ringing endorsement, more like. From the General Secretary (just like a trades union) I have a mail defending the policy whereby I am automatically a member of an organisation to which I have no wish to belong (in the 1970s this would have been called a "closed shop", whereby trades unions forced people into membership just because they worked for a specific employer).

Apparently membership fees are discussed at the AGM, and, according to the mail "are set out clearly in the light of the democratic decision of the club that the affiliation fee is applicable to the majority of members" [they don't force under 11s to be members of England Athletics]. He goes on "I sympathise with your concern about costs to your family especialy (sic) in the current climate [yeah, right !] however, I feel that the question of affiliation runs to the heart of the reasons underpinning the Club's existence and its role in the community." Whatever that means.

Sounds like I've got a fight on my hands. I've written back questioning the legality of the club's policy. And I shall write back to the very nice guy at England Athletics, asking him how the club's policy is compatible with his assertion that membership of England Athletics is discretionary.

Game on !

The Womble And The Running Tax

It’s strange what gets people’s juices going.

I’m a politically motivated person and most of the things that get my interest going take place far away from Womble On Tour’s immediate vicinity: restrictions on free speech or advertising, mind-bogglingly bad management of the economy, the arrest of an Opposition politician to name some specifics.

Occasionally though, something happens on a smaller scale but much closer to home which really winds me up, and I feel the old political passion, the fire burning inside me, which says “That’s wrong”. And I feel the need to do something. It's hard to explain; it’s as if some genetic switch has been flicked. I can’t rest until it’s been flicked back again. And it’s just happened.

Along with my two children I am a member of our local athletics club. We go once a week and have a run, or, in the summer, the children might have a go at long jumping or the javelin. It’s all quite civil and friendly, and I’m always heartened by the number of kids who go, fighting off obesity etc. The club is a good thing.

The other night, while waiting for my offspring to come back, I glanced down the notice board. I saw a notice that the subscriptions had been raised (I already knew this, and I’ve paid them) partly because (and this is the bit I didn't know) of the increased affiliation fee – from £3 to £5 - to England Athletics. And then I thought: “Hang on a minute…this has never been explained to me. Who are England Athletics, and why am I an affiliated member ?”

So I went onto their website, got some contact information, and wrote to them. And I got a very nice reply from their Head of Marketing & Strategy, explaining a few things:
...England Athletics is the National Governing Body for athletics in England (presumably my club is affiliated to it);
...it’s a “private organisation that is publicly funded” (how does that work ?)
...“affiliation fees ensure participants are insured to compete under UK Athletics rules”
...it is the prerogative of the individual whether they wish to be affiliated to England Athletics.

And then I looked again at my club’s membership application / renewal form. Nowhere does it explain that part of the subscription goes to England Athletics, or that membership of England Athletics is discretionary, or that we needn’t pay this £5 if we don’t feel like it.

And I am now like a man possessed. For me this evokes memories of the Trades Union closed shop (forced membership of an organisation) and the political levy (Trades Union subs going to the Labour Party) rolled into one. More than that – given that England Athletics gets most of its money from the government, the affiliation fee is tantamount to a tax – if the government cuts EA’s funding then affiliation fees will go up. So I’m paying a Running Tax, for me and my kids. And I didn’t even know about it.

That switch, that primeval feeling of something being wrong and the need to do something about it, has been pushed into action.

I have written to my club requesting that they explain fully, to all members, that part of the membership subscriptions go to a Third Party of which they are de facto a member. I’ve also demanded that they make an opt-out possible. I haven’t yet threatened to withhold the £5 on behalf of my children and myself, but I will do if they don’t play ball. And I ain’t resting until they do.

How many other sporting clubs secretly enlist you with a parent organisation and charge you for the privilege, I wonder ?