Length of season the main topic at agm

ROWING:TWELVE MONTHS or nine months? The annual general meeting of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union in Dublin tomorrow will consider a new framework for the season, but all the discussion, debate and preparation effectively comes down to whether clubs want the season to stretch over 12 months or nine months.

Rowers are returning to training after a lay off since the National Championships in mid July, but the new framework, which will be up for discussion this weekend, lays claim to July, August and September as months for competition.

There would be a National Championships for big boats in summer and one for small boats in autumn. The season would be structured around these, with regattas fashioned into a performance league and a participation league. Heads of the River, which precede the regatta season, would also be formed into a league.

The board of the IARU accepted this framework in June and, as one of the chief proponents of the plan, Mark Pattison, points out, the only calendar up for adoption tomorrow is this new one. Yet, albeit that much hard work has been done to discuss the option with clubs and convince them of its desirability, the agm is a democratic forum and the new framework will stand or fall on the backing for it in the hall.

The two biggest clubs in the country, in terms of registered members, Commercial (124) and UCD (108), have mandated their delegates to oppose the new option. John Walsh, UCD’s secretary, focuses on the difficulty of keeping students who are novice rowers involved through the summer. Typically, the club might have an eight, a four and quadruple scull in training: the first two crews would finish their season in July; the third crew would be expected to train through the summer and compete in September.

Walsh and Commercial captain Martin Hogan both see merits in the proposals and hope for a good discussion, but make the point that opening clubhouses through the traditional close season would be expensive in terms of manpower and personnel.

At the core of the objections of many ordinary club rowers and mentors will be the problem of how to arrange holidays in a year-round programme.

Pattison argues that breaks for the athlete will fall naturally into the rhythm of the season: one after the championships; Christmas; a spring rest time.

The Trinity coach is a quiet-spoken but convincing advocate. He readily admits more people will be needed to make the ambitious new proposals work, but the vision is of a bigger, more broad-based sport, with events which are attractive for athletes and their families.

It may be a straw in the wind, but Pattison has just been elected as one of the two Leinster-nominated members of the IARU board.

He will take over from Gerry Farrell, who will move unopposed into the position of treasurer of the union vacated by the long-serving John McGeehan.

As covered here last week, the accounts may provide the other main debating point tomorrow.

In the wake of the agm, the new board will have an interesting task as subcommittees are formed. Under the four-year rule some chairs of these subcommittees may have to step aside, but Gordon Reid, the secretary of the union was not prepared to be drawn yesterday on which subcommittees are affected.

Last weekend brought good news on the club front. Queen’s University fielded a men’s senior eight at the European Universities Championships in Poland, and were well in the hunt for a medal. They finished fifth in an entry of 12 – they qualified for the A Final by covering the course in Kruszwica in five minutes 49.66 seconds.

On Sunday, junior and novice rowers have a chance of taking advantage of the wonderful weather at the Fermoy Autumn Sprints over 500 metres.

Thor Nilsen, formerly head of coaching in Ireland, was given a five-minute standing ovation at the congress in recognition of his receiving the Olympic Order.