Heraldsep14 uka affiliation

Affiliated Athletes / UKA Individual Competition Licences Becoming an Affiliated runner used to be a straightforward matter: you simply joined a running club which was affiliated to UK Athletics. As a member of that club you were automatically regarded as being affiliated as an individual.

Then, a few years ago, UK Athletics introduced Individual Competition Licences (also known as Unique Reference Numbers – URNs – or Registration Numbers); not only did a runner have to belong to an affiliated club but they also had to pay £5 per annum to register as individually-affiliated runners (and it’s also worth noting that a runner cannot register for a URN without first joining an affiliated club). For that you were allocated a URN which, in turn, you wrote on a race entry form together with your club name in order to enter a race as an affiliated runner.

Like, I suspect, most club members, I went along with the new system. At least, I went along with it until the fee was doubled to £10 per annum, at which point I decided to no longer register as an individual: apart from the fact that I wasn’t entering enough events to justify the annual fee I did regard the increase as a bit of a rip-off and I therefore resigned myself to being in a sort of limbo – an unaffiliated member of an affiliated running club.

Then, earlier this year, something rather odd happened which led me to investigate the whole process regarding the individual registration system. I entered an event, the entry form for which asked for both Club Name and UKA Number. So I put down ‘Compton Harriers’ as my club and, not having a UKA Number, added a note on the back of the entry form to the effect that as I didn’t hold a URN I was paying the Unattached entry fee and hoped that was ok. A few days later I received an email from the organiser saying that “as you are with a registered club, we only charge £10. If you see me at the run I will get £2 back to you”. I replied pointing out that as I didn’t hold an individual URN I was under the impression that I was technically an Unattached runner and that I was pretty sure I needed to pay the Unattached entry fee, to which the Race Director replied that as far as he was concerned there was no confusion as – and I quote – “the £2 fee difference is purely a requirement for me to offer preferential rates (minimum £2) to affiliated members”.

After that things got really interesting. I emailed UKA for clarification regarding members of affiliated clubs who did not themselves hold an Individual Competition Licence number and asked the following questions: 1. As someone who does not hold an individual UKA competition licence but is a member of a club affiliated to UKA should I, when I enter an event, pay the Attached or the Unattached entry fee if the entry form only asks for an affiliated club name and not the individual’s URN?; and 2. If an entry form asks for both my affiliated club name and my URN should I pay the Attached or Unattached entry fee?

UKA’s answer was – and again I quote – “Rule 202(5)(iii) applies – the £2 discount is for club members registered with a National Association. This is UKA policy for general interpretation”. Aside from the fact that I considered that a bit of a non-answer UKA then muddied the waters even more by adding the following: “Individual Race Directors may interpret and apply differently if they are unaware or wish to ignore the rules”. Grammatically appalling, but intriguing…

So I downloaded a copy of the UKA Rule Book and read it. I shan’t bore you with all of it (it runs to 190 pages), but what I found both in the Rule Book and subsequently has led me to the conclusion that a member of a club which is affiliated to UKA doesn’t actually need to stump up £10 a year for an individual URN in order to enter an event as an Affiliated runner.

Page 1 of the UKA Rule Book includes the following statement: “Attention is drawn to the fact that in the Rules the words ‘must’, ‘shall’ and ‘should’ are frequently used. The variation in phrase is deliberate.

When the word ‘must’ or ‘shall’ is used the Rule is compulsory. Where ‘should’ is employed, while UK Athletics hopes that the Rule will be observed, strict compliance is not essential”. Remember that: ‘must’ means the Rule is compulsory…

So let’s have a look at Rule 202. Rule 202(5) states “Any Promoter to whom a Road Race Licence has been granted by UKA must:” … and Rule 202(5)(iii) goes on to state “grant a minimum discount of £2 from the advertised race entry fee to any member of an affiliated Club which is also registered with a National Association”.

Must. So it’s a compulsory Rule then? Er, no, not quite, because according to UKA “Race Directors may interpret and apply differently if they are unaware or wish to ignore the rules”. So UKA have optional compulsory rules – they’re compulsory, but Race Directors can ignore them if they feel like it.

Not only that, but Rule 202 states that the discount should be given to members of an affiliated Club; there is no mention in Rule 202 about members of an affiliated Club needing to hold an Individual Competition Licence in order to claim affiliated runner status. In fact – and, believe me, I have been through the Rule Book with a fine-tooth comb – nowhere in the UKA’s Rule Book do Individual Competition Licences, URNs, Registration Numbers, call them what you will, get a single mention.

So according to UK Athletics’ own Rule Book an Affiliated runner is quite simply someone who is a member of a Club which is itself Affiliated. There is no mention at any point in the Rule Book of an Affiliated runner having to hold an Individual Competition Licence Number in order to be eligible to pay the Attached entry fee.

Having got this far I decided to contact someone I know who has been a Race Director for over 30 years to ask if he had any idea how the system worked – or at least was supposed to work – and whether, as a member of an Affiliated Club who does not hold an Individual Competition Licence, I should pay the Attached or Unattached entry fee for a race. His reply was not only the same as that of the previous Race Director whom I had contacted – that, as a member of an Affiliated Club, I need only pay the Attached runner’s entry fee – but also included the following information, which I have summarised: Although UKA would like [my italics] all runners, clubs and races to be members of UKA and to abide by their rules, like the FA does for football, they have no real power to enforce these rules; instead, they say what they would like to happen and then use various methods to try and coerce runners, clubs and Race Organisers to make it happen.

All that matters to UKA is that they raise sufficient money to run their organisation and that those runners, clubs and Race Organisers which are affiliated to UKA receive a benefit for their affiliation fees.

If UKA actually tried to enforce the rules they would need an army of employees to do the checks, which would lead to an increase in the cost of running UKA and, as a consequence, result in increased affiliation fees. That, most probably, would cause most of the races to either close or move to other support organisations.

One of the conditions of a UKA Race Permit is that members of an affiliated club should be charged at least £2 less than non-affiliated runners. On the UKA Race Directors’ site, however, there is no list of UKA-Affiliated Clubs. Nor is there a list of Individual Registration Numbers, so a Race Director has absolutely no way of checking whether an entrant’s Registration Number – or even their Club – actually exists. In any event, UKA have never queried the lack of UKA Registration Numbers on entries from club members.

I have tried to find out what penalties could be imposed on club members who do not register for an Individual Competition Licence and as far as I have been able to establish the answer is … none. At least none according to the UKA: UKA rules define an Affiliated runner as someone who is a member of an Affiliated Club, not as a member of an Affiliated Club who also holds a valid and current Individual Competition Licence, so you would not be in breach of any rules – and if you don’t break the rules, there can be no penalties or sanctions. According to England Athletics, however, the penalty is quite draconian:

“From April 2013 athletes will only have a Power of 10 profile if they hold the appropriate England Athletics registration”. Wow, scary. Just one thing, though: I’ve not had an Individual Competition Licence number for two years now, but I still have a Power of 10 profile and my race results are still on the site. And anyway, as far as I know, UKA rules trump England Athletics rules.

And even if – and it’s a very big if – a runner was ‘banned’ by UKA, there would be nothing at all to stop them from then either joining the Registration system or entering an event as Unaffiliated. Race Directors don’t check every entry – they can’t, because UKA doesn’t maintain a list, and it would in any case be an onerous and time-consuming task – and lists of entrants’ names aren’t sent to UKA for verification: UKA are only interested in the total number of Affiliated or Unaffiliated runners at an event so that they can check the Race Director is paying the correct fee – and they certainly wouldn’t be interested in a list of Unaffiliated runners’ names.

Whilst there are a few – and it’s only a few – races which state on their entry forms that the EA Registration Number is mandatory, they appear to be primarily County Championship races at 5 mile, 10K, half marathon and marathon distances. Even if you enter all these and have an Individual Competition Licence number you’ll only save yourself a total of £8 in entry fees; £2 less than you pay for the Licence number in the first place. And in any case anybody can enter a County Championship as an Unattached runner…

When I first started looking into the issue of Unaffiliated members of UKA-Affiliated Clubs I frankly didn’t expect to open such a can of worms. What I thought was a relatively simple question – is a member of a UKA-Affiliated Club who does not hold an Individual Competition Licence regarded as Attached or Unattached? – has, instead, uncovered the following information: - UK Athletics has ‘compulsory’ rules which are actually optional.

- UK Athletics has no real power to enforce its own rules.

- UK Athletics’ definition of an Affiliated runner is someone who is a member of an Affiliated Club.

- There is no reference in UK Athletics’ Rule Book to Individual Competition Licences.

- Race Directors regard membership of a UKA-Affiliated Club as sufficient to allow a runner to pay the Attached entry fee for a race.

- Race Directors have no list of UKA-Affiliated Clubs against which they can check the validity of race entries.

- Race Directors have no means of validating Individual Competition Licence numbers given on race entry forms.

- UKA have never queried the lack of UKA Registration Numbers on entries from club members.

The only logical conclusion I can draw from all this is that the Individual Competition Licence fee is little more than a money-making exercise which was introduced by UKA in an effort to maximize income.

UKA rules are quite clear: an Affiliated runner is, quite simply, someone who is a member of a Club which is itself Affiliated. Race Directors, too, regard an Attached runner as someone who is a member of a UKA-Affiliated Club whether or not they have an Individual Competition Licence. So why, then, does anyone need to pay £10 a year for something which isn’t actually needed?

My personal opinion is that the fee is a con. It’s a good one – getting people to pay for something they don’t really need – but it’s still a con. And if you need any proof of this I have, since I found out all the above information, entered two races: on each entry form I filled in my Club Name, left the Registration Number blank and sent the Attached entry fee. The result? My entries into both races have been accepted without question.

Simon