Of Associations, Federations, Councils, Boards, Forums et al.
aka What next for the British Triathlon Association?
Version: 1
Date: March 3rd, 2006
Author:Mark Cathcart
BTA Membership Number:11856
email: :m_cathcart at yahoo dot co dot uk
Overview: Fundamental to the upcoming re-organisation of the British Triathlon Association (BTA) is for the current membership to decide what kind of governing body they want and how accountable they want it to be.
At the time of writing the first version of this document, I only had had the published documents to go on, and some much earlier(2004) informal discussions on the BTA One Stop Plan to base the following comments on.
Documents used as basis for review here were dated 09/02/06 and published on the BTA Website and are marked as “Working draft”. Since I am in the USA until after the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) proposed for the end of April it is very unlikely I will be able to participate in any discussion on amendments which have already or will take place or the EGM itself.
This document is posted as six separate posts to this blog for ease of reading. If you would like a copy of the complete document as a Word or PDF file please post a comment leaving your email address and the document format you prefer.
Preamble and Background
Summary Opinions
Why Reorganise
British Triathlon Federation Proposal
Triathlon England
Triathlon England Regional Committees
Please free to comment on any individual post or to this one on general points. I accept that the documents posted on the BTA Website that the current documents were draft and subject to change and that some or many of my observations may have already been addressed through the consultation process.
I would encourage all members to read the comments and the documents and if you feel strongly attend the Extraordinary meeting and vote accordingly. In case you can't be bothered to read the documents, my top-10 concerns are:
Otherwise you will be disenfranchised and the changes passed by those members who have rejoined after the March 31st end of year. In fact, there is another question for the new organisation: If USA triathlon can have a rolling year membership, ie you join in June and your membership expires at the end of May the following year, why can't the BTF/Triathlon England ??
Version: 1
Date: March 3rd, 2006
Author:Mark Cathcart
BTA Membership Number:11856
email: :m_cathcart at yahoo dot co dot uk
Overview: Fundamental to the upcoming re-organisation of the British Triathlon Association (BTA) is for the current membership to decide what kind of governing body they want and how accountable they want it to be.
At the time of writing the first version of this document, I only had had the published documents to go on, and some much earlier(2004) informal discussions on the BTA One Stop Plan to base the following comments on.
Documents used as basis for review here were dated 09/02/06 and published on the BTA Website and are marked as “Working draft”. Since I am in the USA until after the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) proposed for the end of April it is very unlikely I will be able to participate in any discussion on amendments which have already or will take place or the EGM itself.
This document is posted as six separate posts to this blog for ease of reading. If you would like a copy of the complete document as a Word or PDF file please post a comment leaving your email address and the document format you prefer.
Preamble and Background
Summary Opinions
Why Reorganise
British Triathlon Federation Proposal
Triathlon England
Triathlon England Regional Committees
Please free to comment on any individual post or to this one on general points. I accept that the documents posted on the BTA Website that the current documents were draft and subject to change and that some or many of my observations may have already been addressed through the consultation process.
I would encourage all members to read the comments and the documents and if you feel strongly attend the Extraordinary meeting and vote accordingly. In case you can't be bothered to read the documents, my top-10 concerns are:
- There is no open governance, in fact even more is done in secret and behind closed doors than currently
- English Triathletes are essentially shut out of involvement in their own national association. There is no AGM, they are not allowed to attend TE Committee meetings, not allowed to propose resolutions or vote.
- It would appear that the Triathlon England regional committee can be subverted by a single large club in the region.
- The new organisations require a very high level of physical presence at meetings which is a bar to participation
- Ordinary members are explicitly barred from seeing the accounts of the federation and have no right of access to the board or council meetings
- The powers vested in the CEO and ability to participate at meetings at all levels of the sport go too far and should be restricted
- The independence of Triathlon Scotland and Welsh Triathlon is not protected by this proposal
- The proposal disenfranchises ALL non-resident non-club members of the current British Triathlon Association
- The position of the BTF in relation to commercial sponsorship obtained at a Triathlon England national or regional level
- While the BTF Council and board will have AGMs, ordinary members do not need to be told when these are, and are not allowed to attend
Otherwise you will be disenfranchised and the changes passed by those members who have rejoined after the March 31st end of year. In fact, there is another question for the new organisation: If USA triathlon can have a rolling year membership, ie you join in June and your membership expires at the end of May the following year, why can't the BTF/Triathlon England ??