The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHEN the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations held its election of officers on November 7, I don’t think any of the members expected for the most prominent sporting body in the country to be going through the turmoil that it has in the past eight months.

Since taking office, Mike Sands’ presidency has been under attack, not just from the members, but some of the officers who were elected to serve with him.

The problem came to a head in May when a vote of no confidence was taken against first vice president Iram Lewis, secretary general Carl Oliver and Harrison Petty, the president of the Parents Association. They have since taken out an injunction in the Supreme Court.

Today, the BAAA also finds itself in a dilemma trying to find the necessary funding to pay for a 37-member team trip to the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia, next week. With the team due to leave on Monday, BAAA executives are still scrapping to find the estimated $60,000 for the tickets that cost an average of $2,100.

The problem is: How did the BAAA get in this predicament and is there any rainbow at the end of the tunnel?

Despite the accusations that have been hurled at him, Sands remains committed to the cause and has indicated that he will continue to do whatever it is in the best interest of the organisation.

While I’ve not been privy to all of the ranglings that have gone on in the meetings of the BAAA, I think Sands and even those persons who came on board providing the new blood in the organisation have all tried their best to produce a cohesive unit to take the BAAA forward.

Sometimes, your good is just not good enough.

I’m sure Sands has probably reflected on Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote: “You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time” over and over again.

What needs to happen is the faction that have been removed from office will have to withdraw their writ from the court and then sit down with the other side of the fence with a mediator stepping in to help them to iron out all of the wrinkles that have transpired between them since taking office.

It’s not good for the sport and certainly not for the Bahamas for this dispute to be dragged on for as long as it has.

The IAAF is certainly watching and with the BAAA having already gotten the assurance that the inaugural IAAF World Relays will take place in 2014 and again in 2015, that could all change if there is no resolution.

Whether either parties want to agree or not, the dispute has had an adverse effect on the BAAA securing the necessary funding for its programme.

There was the assertion that the BAAA had at least $271,000 in its two bank accounts about three months ago.

Since then, the BAAA has had to finance four national teams, send a number of persons off to courses and conferences and paid for a series of other items, like advertising and expenses incurred from the various projects they are engaged in. There is no wonder why there isn’t any funding left.

I’m not taking any sides, but having had the opportunity to work in the administration of sporting and non-sporting organisations, there is a considerable amount of money that has to be spent in order to ensure that your programme is successful.

And there are going to be times when the head of the organisation will have to arbitrarily make a decision without consulting the members. I’m not saying that whatever decision is made is not done without informing the members. But a leader has the right to make some decisions.

As for the BAAA as a whole, the organisation continues to grow by its successes at the regional and international competitions and that only means that there is going to be more and more demand for more and more assistance to help in taking care of all of its matters.

By growing, there are going to be more people coming on board and, in most cases, they all feel that they have an input to make. So while everybody can’t be heard, while everybody can’t get the opportunity to travel and while everybody can’t do what they want, someone has to steer the ship.

I think it will be good for all concerned to come together and sit down and try to iron out whatever their differences are because all of this bickering is not helping the organisation as they move forward. If it did, the BAAA would certainly not be in the dilemma that it finds itself, not having sufficient funding for its national team to travel.