ATHLETICS:The incoming chief executive officer of Athletics Ireland brings impeccable credentials and deserves unequivocal support, writes Ian O'Riordan

ATHLETICS IRELAND sent around an email at lunchtime last Tuesday. The subject: Coghlan is appointed new CEO. Not again, I thought - if only for a split second. Couldn't be Eamonn Coghlan, could it?

There are several chapters in the political history of Irish athletics that still seem too terrible to be true, and Coghlan's brief sojourn as chief executive of the old Bord Luthchleas na hÉireann (BLE) is perhaps the most terrible of all. It wasn't that Coghlan did a bad job. It's that he wasn't allowed to do the job at all.

Back in 1989 the sport was riding high on the international successes of Coghlan, John Treacy, Ray Flynn, Frank O'Mara, and Marcus O'Sullivan, and also emerging juniors such as Sonia O'Sullivan and Catherina McKiernan. There was also the realisation that Irish athletics had passed over the threshold of the professional era, although the governing body, BLE, had effectively stayed behind.

That same year Coghlan announced he was retiring and, after nearly a decade of living in the US, would be returning to Ireland. Sensing a sporting and no doubt political opportunity, the then Minister for Sport Frank Fahey proposed the appointment of Coghlan as the first full-time chief executive of BLE, a position he felt was vital in moving the sport forward with the times. The post would be largely Government funded and was rightly described as heralding a new dawn in Irish athletics. Unfortunately, not everyone saw it that way.

After some deliberation, Coghlan accepted the job, but the knives were out well before he moved into the old BLE office on Dublin's Prospect Road on January 1st, 1991. Certain BLE officials had expressed unease at the way Coghlan was appointed.

Christy Wall, then BLE international secretary, said, "Those are jackboot tactics and the perception of many people in the organisation is that they will not work. There is no complaint whatever about the choice of Eamonn Coghlan but we insist that the democratic process must obtain. There is nothing in BLE's constitution which permits decisions by decree. But that is the avenue which the Minister seems intent on travelling."

To this Fahey replied: "The attitude expressed in this latest communication from BLE would appear to indicate that there are people in the association who are more interested in their own political gains than in the welfare of the future of athletics in this country. It would appear there is a siege mentality among a small number of people in the BLE management."

Despite the furore, Coghlan remained intent on making a go of the job. It wasn't as if he jumped in with eyes closed - he described his appointment as "the biggest challenge that I have ever faced in my life" - and he held genuine hopes of improving the status and success of Irish athletics.

"I intend to raise the perception of the product in Ireland. I came in to do the job for Irish athletics, not on any ego or power trip. I wanted to bring back the experience and expertise I gained over the past 25 years and have it benefit the sport in Ireland. The only way I could do this effectively was as a full-time employee."

For most observers, it was a logical appointment, a view voiced at the time by one of the great aficionados of Irish athletics, the late Noel Carroll: "It's like if somebody called to your back door to tell you that you'd won a million pounds in the Lotto and everybody sat there discussing whether to accept the money because the man hadn't come in through the front door. How silly can you get? These people who are complaining about the way the appointment was announced don't want the 1990s. It would be a tragedy if they were to win."

Well, in the end, they did win. Coghlan lasted just six months in the job before resigning: "With all the political frustrations and back-stabbing I encountered, I knew I hated this side of the sport that I loved so much."

The only good thing that came out of the fiasco was that Coghlan got back running, and three years later, at age 41, ran a mile in 3:58.15 - which remains the only sub-four-minute mile in history posted by a man over 40. And whatever about forgiving his old adversaries, he did at least forget.

But go at it again? No, surely not? And indeed last Tuesday's email referred to the appointment of Mary Coghlan, no relation but from a strong athletics family nonetheless. This was expected, and Coghlan will be formally announced as the new CEO of Athletics Ireland at this weekend's congress in Dublin.

Given the experiences of her namesake, Coghlan will need little reminding the job can be something of a poisoned chalice. Her predecessor, Brendan Hackett, resigned almost a year ahead of schedule, not because of anything overly controversial, but because he'd taken the job "as far as I could". Hackett was aware the knives were out for him too but, in the spirit of Oscar Wilde, saw true friendship as stabbing someone in the front, not the back.

Coghlan has been chair of Athletics Ireland's Finance and Risk Committee for two years, and while there have already been some rumblings about the process of her appointment, she certainly carries no political baggage. Her background is in accounting - she has a mathematics degree from Oxford University - which should rule out scepticism about her appointment and allow her to concentrate on running the sport.

Not that she doesn't realise the issues affecting the sport. A member of Crusaders AC - like her brother, Peter, who has been Ireland's top 110-metre hurdler for over a decade - she has long been outspoken on issues such as facilities and funding.

Among the more interesting motions coming before this weekend's congress is from the board of Athletics Ireland itself, which is proposing a new associate-membership category. At the end of last year, Athletics Ireland had 25,036 members, with Cork's 3,286 surprisingly ahead of Dublin's 2,827. Clearly, there is room to improve, and while athletics participation at non-competitive level is steadily increasing (just look at all the road races out there), club representation is declining.

The motion is proposing associate membership as a way of addressing this decline, to bring more athletes into the coaching, volunteer and promotional aspects of the club, along with the many social aspects, but without the pressures of competition. In other words, Athletics Ireland is embracing mass participation, realising it just can't afford to ignore it any longer. This can only be a good thing.

Athletics Ireland is now a serious business, and last year cost €3.23 million to run, of which €2.04 million was provided by the Irish Sports Council. This heavy reliance on Government funding underlines the need for sound and secure organisational structures.

So Coghlan knows well the challenges facing the sport, and the challenge now for Athletics Ireland is to let her get on with it.

This weekend's congress will also see appointments to other key positions, including Liam Hennessy as president, Patsy McGonagle as chair of high performance, and Paddy Fay as chair of coaching.

Also this week, Mark Carroll was given perhaps the most overdue appointment of all: US athlete manager. These are all athletics people through and through. On and off the track, the future of Irish athletics has rarely looked brighter. For once, can't we all just get along?