Most controversial club

[IainR]

Out of interest which club can lay claim to being the most controversial club?

By that I think number of clubs which stem from disputes..

Eryri have led to Menai Track and Field (formed to provide a track team to replace the defunct Eryri Track team), Hebog (formed due to elite Eryri runners being shouted at by committee members (history currently repeating itself) and the WFRA (a bumbag fight) as clubs and organisations stemming from splits.. but I thought Cybi? possibly had a similar start...so 3 possibly 4 and talk of a 5th in 30 years.

A few of us would have liked Eryri and Menai to rejoin so there's no squabbling over kids, but until the current committee fall by the way side the club will continue to look for fights. The runners train together, but the committees don't talk...

So which club can beat that? I'd have thought Kendal or Kewsick must have had a few.. Borrowdale came from one.

[Alf]

Out of interest which club can lay claim to being the most controversial club?

By that I think number of clubs which stem from disputes..

Eryri have led to Menai Track and Field (formed to provide a track team to replace the defunct Eryri Track team), Hebog (formed due to elite Eryri runners being shouted at by committee members (history currently repeating itself) and the WFRA (a bumbag fight) as clubs and organisations stemming from splits.. but I thought Cybi? possibly had a similar start...so 3 possibly 4 and talk of a 5th in 30 years.

A few of us would have liked Eryri and Menai to rejoin so there's no squabbling over kids, but until the current committee fall by the way side the club will continue to look for fights. The runners train together, but the committees don't talk...

So which club can beat that? I'd have thought Kendal or Kewsick must have had a few.. Borrowdale came from one.

Calder Valley emerged from Halifax Harriers but I think that was amicable ?

[Richard Head]

Borrowdale emerged from Keswick, dont know if the split was acrimonious. Although Ellenborough were already in existence their numbers were boosted by a large influx from CFR after some sort of split. Lonsdale were i think mainly formed by disaffected Lancaster & Morecambe members. Were West Pennine a breakaway from Darwen Dashers? Going back 15 years or so Ron Mcandrew seemed to leave a string of clubs behind him in Lancashire as he fell out with various people and moved on to form a club of his own

[Witton Park]

It's always intrigued me this - being in Blackburn where we also have Blackburn Road Runners, Darwen Dashers, West Pennine Fell Runners alongside Blackburn Harriers.
I'm not so sure it's controversy behind it though.

As far as I'm aware, BBH were like many long established clubs rooted in Track and Field and Cross Country. As road and fell became more prominent through the 70s there was pressure with clubs to cover these disciplines.
At BBH and our local neighbours CLEM there seemed to be a bit of a revolving door where athletes went backwards and forwards between the 2 reasonably amicably and even started merger talks at some point in the 70s.

But sometimes someone would stir up a fuss over "why don't we do more fell" for example but not be prepared to take on that responsibility themselves, but instead go off and form a new club as they couldn't face joining a local rival.

I think the Road Runners & Dashers formed as they felt that BBH was a bit too elitist and focused on the sub 35m 10K guys rather than the 40m + ones. I think West Pennine was a Dashers splinter group.

The irony is, that there now exists 4 clubs, with 4 committees and back up volunteers with each club unable to field teams in some events due mainly to lack of team management.
We missed the FRA Relay entry this year because I was just mowed out with work and other athletics issues and missed the deadline.

I think there will be a move over the next 10 years for consolidation. Blackpool and North Fylde alreay done it, Chorley Harriers and Chorley AC already in discussion.

[Richard Head]

I seem to remember when i first started fell running that Keighley Road Runners and Keighley Fell Runners merged to form Keighley & Craven. There was a falling out and the fell runners who were against the merger formed Wharfedale. I am sure that if i am wrong one of our Yarkshire bretheren will correct me

[rocksteady]

When Eryri was formed in the mid 1970s there was no other running club around therefore it had a monopoly on north west Wales runners and throught the years has produced some of Wales`s best fell runners and road runners too. As a club it has built up a reputation as one of the premier running clubs in Britain, the caliber of some of the runners that have repesented the club over the years can be added to the list of whos who of the fell running world.the club not only dominates the mountain scene of Wales but also has done and can still do,dominate the road and xc disiplines too.There have been splinter clubs established over the years but thats inevitable with such a dominance,some have succeeded and some have failed ,some runners have left and some have returned. But the danger is, that with any disillutioned group of runners that think that a formation of another club to an already crowded environment is the answer to any disagreement or personality clashes ,is just diluting the running scene of Wales,weakning the teams that compete at regional or national champs and for what ? ..just to make a point?
I think the answer is that if you want to change the way the club is ran then join the commitee and change it from within.its a democratic establishment and if the majority of the members are in agreement with any proposals that you make then changes will happen,otherwise if commitee affairs get your goat just do what you joined the club for to begin with ....RUN ,and try to get as much as you can out of the club.
The future of a club like Eryri is not a certain one,it has weakend over the years but no other club has taken over its mantle as such a dominant force. i think changes should happen and that a modern,radical,thinking outside of the box approach should be done by the commitee and runnners of the club, if we are to see its golden jubilee.I have a few suggestions that i will put forward for the AGM in Nov which i think will be controversial but could ensure that Eryri will still be the best club in Wales.

Mewn uned mae nerth

[IainR]

I think the answer is that if you want to change the way the club is ran then join the commitee and change it from within.its a democratic establishment and if the majority of the members are in agreement with any proposals that you make then changes will happen,otherwise if commitee affairs get your goat just do what you joined the club for to begin with ....RUN ,and try to get as much as you can out of the club.h

I don't think Eryri is democratic. I know of minutes sent out to one runner which insulted her ability as a runner and corrections made to those minutes by other committee members were ignored...

I don't think a club can change unless young people dominate with free reign. At the moment the older clique still dominate.

They should all step away so those who have no feelings towards Menai or others in the area can try to bring things back. The recent fights over kids has been a bit of a mess. It'd be much better to have one club and then we'd be much stronger with the likes of Walling, Sawyer (menai guy) etc. We'd also get more students that way.

The club has really only take Rob Samual in from the University. Menai is their natural step because of the track.

[Witton Park]

Originally Posted by rocksteady
I think the answer is that if you want to change the way the club is ran then join the commitee and change it from within.its a democratic establishment and if the majority of the members are in agreement with any proposals that you make then changes will happen,otherwise if commitee affairs get your goat just do what you joined the club for to begin with ....RUN ,and try to get as much as you can out of the club.

That's about right really - get involved. You don't even have to join the committee. I started getting kids involved in junior fell from scratch almost at BBH and we are now one of the leading junior fell clubs in the UK.

Iain - I don't know what you are referring to clearly, but if minutes are "dodgy" then they should not be accepted. Like all committees (I imagine) BBH goes through the minutes of the last meeting, amends if required and then votes that they are accepted as a true record.

[IainR]

Originally Posted by rocksteady
I think the answer is that if you want to change the way the club is ran then join the commitee and change it from within.its a democratic establishment and if the majority of the members are in agreement with any proposals that you make then changes will happen,otherwise if commitee affairs get your goat just do what you joined the club for to begin with ....RUN ,and try to get as much as you can out of the club.

That's about right really - get involved. You don't even have to join the committee. I started getting kids involved in junior fell from scratch almost at BBH and we are now one of the leading junior fell clubs in the UK.

Iain - I don't know what you are referring to clearly, but if minutes are "dodgy" then they should not be accepted. Like all committees (I imagine) BBH goes through the minutes of the last meeting, amends if required and then votes that they are accepted as a true record.

With this club you appeal to the committee themselves.. so they say 'nope, we behaved well'..

I tried organising a weekly fell running evening for the club, they refused to insure it, so I now run that through the business. Its very much a closed shop.

[Witton Park]

With this club you appeal to the committee themselves.. so they say 'nope, we behaved well'..

I tried organising a weekly fell running evening for the club, they refused to insure it, so I now run that through the business. Its very much a closed shop.

They shouldn't need to insure it. If all are affiliated athletes they are insured anyway. The club are not the insurance company.