SAAA Handbook: 1979: Rules for Promotions and Competitions 1

This is of necessity the largest section in the Handbook with every detail, and every query that could possibly arise, being covered.   I have twice been asked by a Field Events referee if I had a Handbook in my bag that he could consult because something had arisen on the day that needed an immediate answer.   The section will be divided into several parts simply because of its size.   This page includes the index and also deals with General Rules and Conditions and Handicapping.

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SAAA Handbook: 1979: Constitution

One of the more important items in the Handbook, so important that it came immediately after the office bearers and honorary members, was the Constitution and Standing Orders.   Not long compared with some other sections but very important in the event of any infringement – especially by a Committee Member.  Apologies for some of the copying but the binding on the copy we have is very tight and at times obscure a letter or two.

 

SAAA Handbook:1979: Officials

The sport couldn’t run without officials – not to be confused with administrators.   The former stand out in all weathers measuring jumps and throws, timing and starting track events, while the latter sit in the office and organise meetings, etc.   We have the officials with their events and their addresses so that meeting organisers can invite the officials of the grade and in the numbers they want.   For some reason the women’s officials are listed in three pages at the back of the book while the men’s officials are listed earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAAA Handbook: 1979: Fixtures, Coaches & Affiliated Clubs

The first page of Coaches  below is from the 1980 Handbook because the corresponding page in the ’79 version does not show the paragraph at the top of the page in its entirety.   This accounts for the wrong page number and slight difference in names of Coaches.   Note that although the list of officials appears earlier in the handbook, the SWAAA officials are listed here in the last three pages.   I don’t know why that is.

 

 

 

Official Handbooks: SAAA and SCCU

Both the SAAA which dealt with Track and Field athletics   and the SCCU which dealt with cross-country and road running in Scotland  had their own organisational structures and procedures for the running of the sports.   They ran parallel to each other but had different ways of electing committees, the committees were also differently structured, the club input to each body was also different.   Financial procedures were also peculiar to each body.   

And there were the rules and regulations to be adhered to and which had to be communicated to the clubs and other organisations (schools, County Associations, Youth Organisations, etc).    These were contained in their respective annual handbooks.     That of the SAAA was necessarily larger since it had all the track and field events to cover, and the various regulations relating to the Highland Games, Border Games, Local and Works Sport meetings, and in short everything for every sort of competition.   The SCCU handbook was 5″  x  4″ while the SAAA was 8″  x  5″.     

Their importance in the running of the sport across the entire country cannot be over-estimated and it is appropriate that we look at the contents of these publications.    We have taken the cross-country handbook for 1980 and the SAAA publication for 1979 simply because they are representative and because we have them to hand. 

See them at the links below.

SAAA Handbook        SCCU Handbook

SAAA Handbook: 1979: 1

Every year the SAAA issued the Handbook – a compendium of the current state of the Association, of its Constitution, Rules and Regulations, of its history and of its members.   No look at the sport during the reign of the SAAA would be complete without looking at this production.   It is however a fairly big book – the 1979 edition runs to 128 pages plus cover – and will take some time for the scanning to be complete.   

It will be done in sections as above with the part dealing with the Rules for Competition being further divided simply because of its length.   Links to these sections are below and will be linked as the relevant pages are complete.

  1.   Committee Members  and Office Holders, District Representatives, Honorary Members and Past Presidents.
  2.   Constitution.
  3.   Rules for Competitions and Promotions under SAAA.
  4.  Trophies, Championship Standards, Records at the start of 1979 and Results of Championships in 1978.
  5. Officials by District.
  6. Fixture List for 1979 and Coaches plus affiliated clubs and their Secretaries, SWAAA Officials.

Finally, it will be noted that such a booklet could not or would not be published today – mainly because it has the addresses and phone numbers of all committee members, all coaches and all club secretaries.   This is a pity because it makes the job of course organisers who want to invite appropriate coaches, race promoting bodies who are looking for officials, and club secretaries who want to contact others.    This was part of athletics life however in 1979.

 

SCCU Handbook: 1980-81

When I first came into the sport in the 1950’s the SCCU annual cost 3d (maybe 6d, but I think it was 3d) and we were encouraged to buy it.   Not everybody bought it, and not everybody who bought it, bought it every year.   It contained a wealth of information about the season’s fixtures, about who the committee men running the sport were, who the club secretaries were and lots of historical information.  At 4 inches by 5 inches it was small enough to fit into your pocket, it was a useful thing to have.   It wouldn’t be allowed now to print all the addresses or any other personal information but to me that’s a pity.   However, we reproduce here the 1980-81 version of the handbook.   Pages 1 – 27 below with a link to the second half of the booklet at the foot of the page.

 

Pages 28 to 58 are  here