by Stan Eldon
There are other differences, and these are perhaps more important, as they have contributed to the loss of public interest in the sport. In those good years there was a lot of competition, as there were so many good middle and long distance runners that you never knew who would be on top and going to win major races. There was real competition and people raced each other. I have not seen a decent race between our current or recent runners for a very long time. Most are frightened even by their own shadow, and modest performances give them a reasonable income. There are so few potentially good runners, and I think the present financial structure makes it harder for new talent to challenge the established runners. We do have sprinting talent, but how long does a 100 metres last; less than ten seconds; and is not therefore a great pull with spectators. The interesting events have to be from 800 metres upwards, and until we develop the talent in those areas, we will not draw the crowds or TV audiences back to the sport. I have always said that the way to encourage is not by handouts to the few, but by a sensible prize structure at all levels, so that if an up-and-coming beats an established star, he or she gets the big payday. This would then start them on the learning curve, and give them money to train and travel properly.
As I am writing this book, there is a lot of discussion about cutting down on the number of false starts allowed to only one, and reducing the number of throws and jumps down from six to three, to improve the excitement on television. I believe there is some merit in these proposals, as in most sports you only get one chance; there is no opportunity to have a rerun or second chance to win. I am not quite so sure about the one false start though, because I once did a false start in the Polytechnic Marathon that started in Windsor Castle and ran to Chiswick. Under the new proposed rules I would have been out!
There have been other missed opportunities for the sport, like the mass running boom of the late 70s and early 80s, which could have helped to fund the sport if properly handled. It has been content to rely on the goodwill and free services of a very aging and disappearing stock of athletics officials. While attending an athletic event in the last couple of years, I heard a conversation between some of these aging officials. The gist of it was that one day athletes would turn up to run in a meeting, and there would be no officials present because they would all have passed on.
Athletics is a complex sport; in fact it is a compendium of different sports. There are three main activities; cross-country, road running, and track and field, and the latter is the main problem, as it is not a single activity. There are all the different running events, as well as the throws and the jumps. All different disciplines demanding their own specialisation and specialist coaching. There are many in traditional clubs who criticise the setting up in recent years of the new road running specialist clubs. They think they have helped to destroy the long standing clubs, but I do not think this is true. In fact these single purpose clubs have probably helped to keep the sport going through the difficult years. In fact the way forward may be to have more, not less, specialist clubs. The way athletics is going now, there will be an elite set of clubs at the top level and other clubs, including some long-established clubs, will have to rethink their policy and structure to survive. The traditional club in most towns may have to be the feeder club for the top twenty clubs, which will mean strong junior and younger teams, but weaker senior sections. These clubs may have to depend on the veteran athletes that already make a valuable contribution to many clubs. With the problems in many parts of the country with running on public roads, I think that the number of road races will drop, and the sport will largely revert back to track and field and cross-country running. Maybe in the long term this will be good for the sport, and we will start to produce more and better track runners, especially in the distance events.
There are still hundreds of road running events around the country, but it is not just the standard of the runners that is declining, but the standard of race organisation. Many events have gone back to the ‘bad old days’ as far as organisation is concerned, with little imagination and just one thing in mind, to take as much money as possible off the runners, without giving a well-organised and professional event. Many events still do not know how to produce quick and accurate results; they have commentators who know nothing about the event, running or the runners; and the prize structure of these events is sometimes worse than fifty years ago. There are of course people around who do all these jobs very well, but there are far too many ‘Micky Mouse’ events run for the wrong purpose. What other sport allows all and sundry to organise a sporting event outside of that sport as long as the ‘thirty pieces of silver’ are handed over?
Athletics has been very slow as a sport to integrate the disabled into its events at all levels, although hopefully that is slowly being put right, but it is very slowly and I have heard all the excuses as to why clubs and others cannot take on this extra responsibility.
Today the major sport is football, which I am pleased to say has been integrating the disabled, but for how long will they remain the top sport? I believe that there will be further changes, and support will increase for other sports as people get bored with watching twenty-two men kick a round ball around a pitch. The football machine is huge, but it can and will come to a grinding halt; perhaps in five years or less. I believe that football supporters will come to their senses and stop paying the high price to watch their sport, and the high price of all the proliferates such as replica shirts. The ‘powers that be’ in the sport will also realise that they cannot keep adding more and more competitions into the already crowded calendar. Anyone who knows anything about fitness and the human body, knows that you cannot keep putting physical demands on the body week in, week out, especially with a contact sport.
What will take over where football leaves off? I hope that athletics makes a big comeback, but it is more likely that rugby will lead the way in the next few years. I believe that football can have a major role to play in helping other sports. Athletics struggles for money and a professional approach, and what a great contribution a club like Manchester United could make if they took over a Manchester Athletic Club, and had it as part of its big machine. Initially there would be a cost; perhaps one million pounds a year to get athletics onto a professional footing, but once set up, there would be great prestige and further income for the owning club. Sports clubs in other parts of the world are often multi-sport, and I believe this country could follow this example.
My hints earlier in this book might suggest that I am against modern professional sport, but I am not. I have always lived in the real world, and the days of the total amateur and shamateurism had to disappear at the top level. What I have a quarrel with, is the excesses of modern professional sport and the inequality of it. There is no need for footballers to be paid their £40 or £50,000 a week, and cricketers at the top level earning two per cent of that. There used to be a top wage in soccer of £20 a week; the time may be coming when they have to reintroduce a maximum wage, although a little higher than that £20 per week! I think it should be remembered what the definition of sport is “a source of diversion or recreation, a pastime, a physical activity engaged in for recreation”. In other words sport is for fun and wellbeing.
I do not like the modern presentation of sport on TV. It should be about watching the action, and not be preceded by or followed by a load of waffle from so-called experts who are often not that expert, even if they have succeeded in their chosen sport. Perhaps the definition of expert sums this up. ‘Ex’ needs no explanation, it means in any context ‘past it’; ‘Spurt’ (spert) is a drip of water under pressure. So by definition an ‘expert’ is a little drip under pressure, who is past it. Keep them off our screens and let us get back to good professional commentators, if they can be found. The problem is probably caused by the ‘experts’ being paid so much that they have an inflated ego and want to have their face as well as their voice on the programme. The good commentators l
ike, David Coleman and Ron Pickering, were in the main heard but not seen.
The funding of sport in various ways through the National Lottery Sports Fund, has made a tremendous difference to many sports and the individuals in those sports. The successes at the Sydney Olympics and Paralympics in 2000, is testimony to that. But there has also been a huge wasting of that precious resource by those who control it. Governments have made reports, set up committees and reviews, but have never really grasped the problems of sport in this country; which is that we have too many controlling bodies, and more than any other country, we promote every activity from kite flying to tiddlywinks, to sport status eventually.
I believe, and always have, that there needs to be a new body to replace that organisation that is supposed to be the voice of sport; what was the Sports Council, now Sport England and Sport UK. The only thing that it has ever been good at is producing masses of printed paper; most of which is never read. It has been allowed to grow like ‘topsy’ and has only ever been tweaked. It has never been seriously reviewed. I have worked closely with individuals within that organisation, and most of them do a great job within the structure, but any government that really wants to get to grips with sport and its management, would not just revamp this body but scrap it and start again. The best and most useful campaign run by them was the Sport for All, which was in my opinion what their work should really have been about, not concentrating on increasing sport participation by ethnic groups, women and other minorities. Their old slogan Sport for All covered all these groups.
Why do I think they should be scrapped? It is because they have been so wasteful of the resources given to them, and so much money has gone on so-called restructuring various bodies involved with sport and the management of sport. I think they have suffered too much from government interference and the whims of sports ministers. A post that is not treated seriously by prime ministers as was obvious when the best minister of sport for years, Kate Hoey, was sacked last year. In fact I wonder if there is really any need to have a so-called minister of sport at all. Sport is probably best left to those who know, appreciate and understand it.
Every now and again, as if to flex their muscles, Sport England works to disband and run down one organisation, and then pumps in a great deal of money to start up something very similar, and often with the same people involved. I have been involved with three organisations that have suffered from ‘the treatment’. The first was Disability Sport England (formerly BSAD), the next was the English Federation of Disability Sport, and lastly SportsAid, both before and after it changed to a charity. In all of these organisations there has been a huge waste of money. Disability Sport England was a good organisation that slightly lost its way, and suffered from poor management and lack of control by their funders, Sport England. It did however continue to provide a sound structure for sports clubs for people with disabilities, and some very good regional and national events.
The whole question of the disabled and sport is very complex, and my view is that the theory cannot be matched by practical considerations. A great deal of work has been done to put disabled athletes into a classification system that levels the playing field when in competition with each other. Although the opportunities should be there for the disabled to compete in the sporting events of their choice, they should accept that there are limitations for them as there are for able-bodied sportsmen and sportswomen. A person who is five foot nothing, does not expect to compete seriously at the high jump. An eight-stone man does not compete in the shot or discus, nor does a fifteen-stone man or woman take up distance running. We cannot all take part in every activity; it is “horses for courses”. The same restrictions in sport have to apply to the disabled, and this means that depending on the disability, they may not be able to take part in every athletic and sporting activity. In my association with disabled sport, I do not think this message has got across to the various Disability Sports Organisations and some individuals.
The English Federation of Disability Sport is making a brave attempt at pulling all these organisations together, so as to strengthen their arm in negotiating for more money and support. It is beginning to work, but some of the large cracks between different disability groups are still there, and may be getting wider. I do believe that there are very specific problems with all disabilities, and the best people to deal with them are the specific disability sports organisations with the support of EFDS and Sport England.
Chapter Twenty-Four: People I Admire
Somebody once said to me “How many really smart people have you ever met? I bet you could count them on one hand.” I suppose this is true of any of us, but there are people that you admire for many different reasons.
My all-time sporting hero has to be a runner that I followed, Emil Zatopek. He was a great man, athlete, Olympian and example to all.
There are a number of people I know who have suffered either from ill health or disability, but have survived to lead full active lives. One of these would be my secretary of many years, Gladys Daly, who suffered from a number of very serious periods of cancer. She survived for a long time and was instrumental in getting me to a doctor in 1988, when my diabetes was diagnosed. She was also one of those people who said I should write this book.
I also had the pleasure of meeting another hero, Terry Waite, when he was the starter of the London Marathon in one of the years when I was in charge of the wheelchair racers. He met and spoke to all the competitors in wheelchairs before sending them on their way.
Another person I have already mentioned, my old next-door neighbour and the man who got me involved with the Nabisco Fun Runs, Mike Paxton OBE. He suffered from multiple sclerosis, cancer of the liver and heart attacks from the age of late fifties, but still carried on with many activities helping others.
In terms of survival and courage, Sir Ranulph Fiennes has to be in my list as a survivor and extraordinary explorer.
Then there is Philip Lewis MBE, the man who took me into disabled sport, and who was largely responsible for many of the special initiatives that have helped disabled people have the opportunities to take part in sport at all levels. He himself had been in a wheelchair for over thirty years, but had still been able to enjoy sport, both as a competitor and supporter.
It was through him that I met Peter Hull, the young man I first met while he was at school outside Reading, and who later competed in the Reading Half Marathon as well as the London Marathon. Peter is an example to anyone with a disability. He has no arms or legs, but he won Paralympic medals for swimming, drives a car, and has a full-time responsible job. I suppose it is people like him that have kept me interested in sport for people with disabilities in spite of the politics that go with it.
I look back on a hard but enjoyable life with a number of careers; delivery grocers boy; policeman; soldier; salesman; sports writer; retailer; importer; event organiser; charity worker and administrator. I have never been wealthy but have always got by, even when income was virtually nil, I have never had to use State help, and have never been afraid to change direction, hence my multitude of careers. Life has been exciting, challenging and never boring. I have met many interesting people; some honest and hard-working, and some a little less than that, and I believe in maintaining standards, but I certainly have never had any time for snobbery whether connected with social standing, art, music or whatever. Sport has been my life, and all my careers have had sport as a major part of it, from the police through to charity work. I have been “On The Run” for fifty-four years, as a runner and with organising running events for others. I have the satisfaction of having a long happy marriage and our wedding in 1957 only seems a few years ago. We have five children and six grandchildren, although the family name will not be continued through to the next generations as our two grandsons are the families of our daughters. In general I have always been able to do the things that I have wanted to and enjoyed doing them all. I have
only really had too much to drink about four times in my life, and one of them was on my fortieth birthday, when we had a big party at our old home on St Peter’s Hill. I enjoy wine occasionally, but my main enjoyment is a glass of fine malt whisky. My musical tastes range from organ and church music, to brass and military bands, as well as classical music, in particular Handel. If I had my life over again what would I do? Would I make changes? I suppose if I was to have chosen a profession, it could have been as an accountant (it would use my talent for figures but oh so boring). I could have stayed in the police, where I was told I had a promising career, but I am not sure I could live with the politics of the job or all the other changes in recent years. I might have even entered the Church, but with a large family, I don’t think I could have afforded that career. If computers had been around when I was younger, I would have enjoyed a career in that industry, as I have enjoyed working and using them now for over twenty years. On the whole I would not have changed very much, just a little tweak here and there, and perhaps I would rather like to have said I did compete in the Olympics in 1960! But Life on the Run continues...
The Final Lap or Hopefully Laps
After the publication of Life on the Run at the end of 2002 I continued writing for the Reading Post and kept up my involvement with sport for disabled people and athletics in general. But health became an increasing problem.
