A history of divide in athletics

THE history of athletics in Ireland is one of splits and divisions. The forthcoming Olympic Games in London will inevitably lead to recollections of the 1948 Games when some Irish athletes competed and some were not allowed. It is easy to be wise in hindsight but looking back 60 years, we might wonder why any association would send competitors to the Olympics knowing full well that they would not be allowed compete. Similar scenes occurred in Melbourne in 1956.
Undoubtedly, organised athletic events in the 1870s was very much of the establishment and they did not cater for the ordinary people of the country. When the GAA was set up, it was involved in the organisation of athletics. Patrick Nally, who greatly influenced Cusack and Maurice Davin, the first president of the GAA were both noted athletes and Davin was considered one of the best in the world. These GAA athletic meetings were a huge success but it was yet another association organising sports events. You had, among others, the Irish Champions Athletic Club, the Irish Amateur Athletic Association (IAAA), the Irish Cross Country Union (later the CCAI) and, of course, the GAA. In the late 1880s, an attempt was made to have one single athletics body catering for the entire country and all the bodies were invited to a meeting in Dublin. Cusack famously replied to the invitation, ‘I received your letter this morning and burned it’. The attempt came to nothing.
Ironically, it was only after partition and the division of the country politically that some form of athletic unity was achieved. In 1923 a new body, the National Athletic and Cycling Association, was set up when the IAAA, CCAI and athletics section of the GAA merged. The new association was accepted internationally. Ireland joined the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and in 1924, Irishmen competed in the Olympics for the first time as an independent nation.
Serious problems arose at athletic meetings at Celtic Park in Belfast where pony trotting, bookmakers and gambling were commonplace. Some clubs left the NACA in protest. Further division was caused by the appointment of a referee for the annual RUC sports day. The NACA refused to accept the referee nominated by the RUC and insisted on appointing their own. Not surprisingly there were those in Belfast in the 1920s who made the most of objecting to a group from Dublin telling the RUC what to do and this led to other clubs leaving and forming a breakaway group. In 1930, they applied and were accepted for membership of the British Athletics Board.
In 1933, Britain got the IAAF to amend its constitution to confine members to political boundaries in a move directly aimed at Ireland. Reportedly, the NACA consulted with the government which must have been interesting given that DeValera was Taoiseach and Eoin O’Duffy was President of the NACA. The government’s advice was supposed to have been to remain in the IAAF, canvass support from other members and have the ruling changed at the next congress.
Instead they rejected the new rule and when this was confirmed by their congress, they left themselves open to action by the IAAF.
The National Athletics and Cycling Association were suspended from the International Amateur Athletics Federation on April 1, 1935  – 77 years ago this week.