Belfast agreement on dual qualification

A significant decision in the campaign to rationalise the administration of Irish athletics was made at the annual general meeting of the Northern Ireland Amateur Athletics Association (NIAAA) in Belfast on Wednesday.

In the first major spin-off for sport from the Belfast Agreement, delegates voted overwhelmingly to delete a rule which was seen as militating against those northern athletes who wish to compete for Ireland.

Under existing legislation, those who chose to give their allegiance to the south were compelled to serve a one-year limbo period before becoming eligible again to compete for Northern Ireland. Now, with the blessing of the new British athletics administration, the rule has been repealed.

It means that in future suitably qualified athletes can compete for both Ireland and Northern Ireland. Moreover, those beneath the top two grades are eligible to represent both Britain and Ireland.

For more than 60 years, the problems of athletics in Northern Ireland has been perceived as a microcosm of the political situation there - and almost as intractable.

Historically, the NIAAA was a British-orientated organisation which contributed many gifted athletes, notably Mary Peters, Mike Bull and Derek Graham, to Britain's Olympic and European championship squads.

In recent years, the relationship between Dublin and Belfast has thawed considerably with several cross-border initiatives assisting the development of the sport. In terms of scope and breadth, however, none compares with this latest move.

Acknowledging that political developments had helped to water down opposition to the move, a spokesman for the NIAAA said that the proposal to delete a rule which was seen to be divisive was carried with "just one or two abstentions".

"In the new political climate every organisation including our own has to be seen to be even handed," he said. "What we're now trying to do is to cater for both sections of our community.

"If people have British leanings, they can compete for Britain. Likewise, if they wish to represent Ireland, they can do so. We're no longer excluding any section of our community."

Welcoming the development, a BLE official said: "It's just another piece in a complex jigsaw but it shows that there is a lot of goodwill around in the common challenge of making our sport even stronger."

By being seen to cater for both sides of the divide, the northern association can reasonably anticipate enhanced funding by the British government. The other substantial benefit is that it enables them to claw back those athletes who, over the last couple of years, have declared for Ireland.

Motivated in part by the limited opportunities for Irish athletes trying to break into British squads, James McIlroy, Gareth Turnbull, Simon Donnelly and Colm McLean, among others, have opted for the green singlet. Now under the revised rule, they have the option of also running for Northern Ireland if they so choose.

In the accepted jargon of the day, rationalisation rather than unity, is the word favoured by officials north and south in the on-going talks involving the NIAAA and the two principal players in the Republic, BLE and, to a lesser extent, the National Athletics and Cultural Association (NACA).

Northern officials admit to having a good working relationship with both and acknowledge that progress has been made on substantive issues on the way to agreement. They still insist on the right, however, to maintain their links with Britain in any new structures which may emerge.

The timing of the Belfast move, just days before BLE officers report on the progress of the talks at the board's annual congress in Ballybofey tomorrow is significant. And it will be seen by many as helpful to the NACA's aspirations of seeing athletics administered on a 32-county basis.

One of the proposals now being debated is the setting up of a subcommittee to oversee the compilation of a fixtures calendar on an island-wide basis. That, it is agreed, would be the most convincing evidence yet of the new sense of togetherness in a sport traditionally riven by politics.