British masters threaten M65 sprinter with lifetime ban

Anthony Treacher, a record-holding British M65 sprinter living in Stockholm, will be banned for life from British and international masters competition on January 15 if he doesn’t apologize to the British Masters Athletic Federation. His offense? Being relentless in pursuit of a complaint against the national team manager. After nearly two months of correspondence, including 40 emails from Treacher, I’ve posted this disturbing account of how a tiff with the team manager at the Linz world indoor championships grew into a soap opera involving top leaders of British masters and World Masters Athletics. It’s a textbook case of how not to handle an athlete’s gripe. Treacher (which rhymes with TEACHER) tried to settle the dispute with a handshake. Rebuffed, he gives a lesson in pursuit of justice.

Related posts:

  1. British masters mourn passing of sprinter Fran Scott
  2. British masters sprinter argues for ‘parity of esteem’
  3. Bob Fine to banned UK masters sprinter: ‘SHUT UP!’
  4. British masters still bonkers over banned athlete
  5. British athlete banned in Boston (and Canada, too)

January 13, 2007

3 Responses

  1. Tony Bell - January 13, 2007

    All sounds rather messy
    Why not run for Sweden? My wife is a USA citizen but has lived in the UK for many years and is a member of a BMAF affiliated club. She has run for Great Britain in the 2005 San Sebastian WMA and 2006 Poznan EVACS championships after competing for Uncle Sam earlier in her career.

  2. Tom Fahey - January 13, 2007

    It may not be so easy for him to compete for Sweden.
    I inquired about competing for Ireland in the European championships (my grandparents were from Ireland, so I am eligible for dual citizenship). At San Sebastian, they passed a rule that anyone competing for one country could not compete for another for two years. This rule prevented me from competing at Poznan.
    Nationalism is not in the spirit of masters track and field. Yet, it is rearing it ugly head with required national uniforms, country medal counts, and restrictive competition rules. When are the bureaucrats going to understand that masters athletics are for the athlete and not for people who like to be in charge?
    Tom Fahey M59 thrower

  3. Tom Phillips - January 13, 2007

    I would not wish the fact that my photograph of Tony taking part in Linz accompanies part of this blog to be taken as an assumption that I have any view, for or against, the issues being discussed. I do not.

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