Scottish Athletics, stylised as scottishathletics, is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

for the sport of

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

in Scotland. As such it is responsible for organising annual championships, maintaining rules for competition and ratifying records. It also selects teams for international competition, and coordinates courses for those aspiring to coach or officiate at meetings. Scottish Athletics is a member of the

Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland Scotland is one of only six countries to have competed in every Commonwealth Games since the first Empire Games in 1930. The others are Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and Wales. The Commonwealth Games is the only major multi-sport even ...

, and part of

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

, the national governing body for the sport in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was established as a

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

on 1 April 2001, when it succeeded the Scottish Athletics Federation (SAF), which had in turn succeeded the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association that had organised the sport since its inception in February 1883.

History

On Thursday 25 January 1883 there was a meeting, in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, of interested parties, to discuss the formation of an association, "similar to that recently formed in London" and to consider the promotion of an annual championship meeting. On Monday 26 February the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association was formed. They received letters of support and affiliation from various athletic bodies throughout Scotland, and a few days later they appointed their first set of officials, published their first list of affiliated clubs, thirteen in number, and announced that their first championship would be held at the Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 23 June.''Scottish Athletics'', John W. Keddie (1982) Within the athletics community itself this was perceived to be an East of Scotland affair, while the majority of the clubs that held sports of their own were to be found at that time in the West of Scotland, including Clydesdale Harriers, the oldest athletics club in Scotland. These clubs, twelve in number, held a meeting of their own, in a Glasgow hotel, on Tuesday 6 March, where they formed their own association called the West of Scotland Amateur Athletic Association. They scheduled their championship to be held at

Rugby Park Rugby Park, also known as The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park for sponsorship reasons, is a association football, football stadium which is the home of Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock F.C. and is situated in the Scotland, Scottish town of Kilmarnoc ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, on Saturday 16 June 1883. These championships can, therefore, justifiably claim to have been the first truly representative athletic championships to be held in Scotland. Only twenty athletes turned up for that first championship meeting, but they did introduce a very important innovation. Unlike the

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

in London, which were open to the whole world, the West of Scotland AAA championships were open only to those who had been born in Scotland, or who had lived there for the previous three months. The rival Scottish AAA championship at Powderhall the following week was much more popular, and in every event except the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, the standard of performance was also a little higher. Their only qualification for entry was that competitors should be members of affiliated clubs. Over the winter negotiations proceeded and by March 1884 the two rival associations were ready to agree terms. The championship would be held alternately in the East and the West, the organising committee would have three delegates from each district, the President and the vice-President should be drawn from opposite districts, and they would retain the condition that entry was open only to those who were born in or lived in Scotland. The residential qualification was increased to six months in 1912, to two years in 1961, and in 2002 it was increased to three years. The first Scottish AAA championship was held at Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 23 June 1883 and they have, with very few exceptions, always subsequently been held on a Saturday in June. In 1931 when it became necessary for there to be sufficient number of preliminary heats for the tournament to spread over two days, these heats and the longest track race were held on the Friday evening before the main championship. The 10 miles championship, which started in 1886, has always been held separately, but that first year they followed the English model from the AAA championship and had it on the Monday following the track events. That did not prove popular and they soon moved it to April. The Scottish Cross Country Union was formed in 1886 and they held their first national championship at

Lanark Lanark ( ; ; ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a populatio ...

in March of that year. The Scottish Women’s Amateur Athletic Association was formed in 1930 and held their first national championships in 1931. In October 1992 the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association, the Scottish Women’s Amateur Athletic Association and the Scottish Cross Country Union merged into one overall governing body for the sport in Scotland known as the Scottish Athletics Federation, and this was in turn succeeded by Scottish Athletics on 1 April 2001. International athletics began in 1895 with a match against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. This became an annual fixture repeated every year until 1913, then in 1914 England were invited and it became a triangular match which continued until 1952. Between 1967 and 1975 the four home nations, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, contested a British Isles Cup although this was not held every year. From 1960 Scotland also had international matches against Holland, Belgium, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and various others. The first junior international was held in 1978 against England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.The first Scottish athlete to win a medal in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

was Arthur Robertson, a member of

Birchfield Harriers Birchfield Harriers is an sport of athletics, athletics club, founded in 1877. Its home is at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium, England. As well as welcoming recreational runners they cater for all levels of experience up to and including Olympi ...

who had been born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, but his father John, a doctor, had been born in Dalziel, near

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

. The first Scottish woman to win an Olympic medal was Linsey MacDonald, who won a bronze medal for the

4 x 400 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1980. From the beginning there was only one category of record, which only required the performance to have been achieved in Scotland. These are now referred to as Scottish All-comers records. In 1888 it was established that athletes needed to submit a claim to have their record ratified, and from 1893 records were divided into two categories. The actual names of and qualification for these categories changed over the years, but the essential feature of them all was the distinction being made between records achieved by a Scottish athlete, and records achieved by athletes from anywhere in the world. All these records had to be set in Scotland itself. To determine who counted as a Scottish athlete, they defaulted to qualification for the championship, and this remained the case until 1932. In 1933 Scottish AAA introduced the Scottish Native Record, which replaced the championship qualification, so that from that date there were Scottish Native Record, and Scottish All-comers Record. In 1961 they changed the name of the Native record to National record, and in 1964 they first distinguished between records set inside Scotland and those set elsewhere in the world, maintaining initially two lists of these records. This didn't work very well so at the AGM of 21 December 1968 they re-introduced the Native record to give the following three records: Scottish National Record: Performance made anywhere in the world by an athlete who was born in Scotland, or who has one or more parents who were born in Scotland, or who is qualified through residence in Scotland, and has not made themselves ineligible to represent Scotland in international competition. Scottish Native Record: Performance made in Scotland, by an athlete who was born in Scotland, or who has one or more parents who were born in Scotland, or is qualified through residence in Scotland, and has not made themselves ineligible to represent Scotland in international competition. Scottish All-comers Record: Performance made in Scotland, by an athlete from anywhere in the world. Scottish Athletics has a small staff of volunteers who deal with approximately 14,000 members in approximately 170 clubs of varying size from those with several hundred members to specialist clubs and those for minority interests to accommodate all areas of athletics within Scotland.

Governance

Scottish Athletics is a Limited Company (SC217377), with no

Share Capital A corporation's share capital, commonly referred to as capital stock in the United States, is the portion of a corporation's equity that has been derived by the issue of shares in the corporation to a shareholder, usually for cash. ''Share ...

. Its membership is primarily affiliated athletics clubs in Scotland and members, but may also include

schools A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of ...

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

and associate members. Only clubs, schools and associated members may vote at the AGM, through mandated delegates. The Chief Executive is Colin Hutchinson. The

Board of Directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

oversees the operation of the company. The President is Ron Morrison. The role of chairman has been held by David Ovens since September 2021.

Commissions

Formal commissions oversee the day to day operation of specific areas, including the operation of certain championships and series, team selection and development of officials. * Hill running Commission *

Officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of the ...

Commission *

Road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

and

Cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

Commission *

Track and Field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

Commission

References

External links

Scottish Athletics Official website

Power of 10 ranking website

UK Athletics limited official website

Scottish Association of Track Statisticians

Scottish Athletics Road Running & Cross Country Commission
{{Europe Athletics Associations Athletics organizations National governing bodies for athletics

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

Athletics in Scotland 2001 establishments in Scotland Sports organizations established in 2001 National members of the European Athletic Association Sport in Scotland

History

Governance

Commissions

See also

References

External links