[John Collins]

A long explanation – with a short shelf life.

As a starting point for any future debate I feel it is quite important to look at the ACU structure – in a sort of historical way if you like. I apologise in advance to those like Rabie, Start C and many others who obviously already know all this – but I really do get the impression that many do not – and this then often sets us off on unnecessary deviations. So - although boring – please allow me to start at the beginning so to speak.
I will obviously take a simplistic approach.

This will obviously be long – so I suggest Andy leaves it on a few days and then just deletes it – and we can discuss matters which I am sure most will be more interested in.

In actual fact this has little to do with Trials, Enduro or probably the other individual disciplines and the T &E Committee actually have no more input into this side of things than any of you reading this post.

There is little point at present debating too much of this – it is for present set – I offer it only as explanation

If we start with the concept that long before any of us were born – like minded souls were riding around on motorcycles and enjoying themselves. (Lucky sods) Soon – as with all sport – the competitive element crept in – and for sporting and social purposes, Clubs would have been formed – usually on a town/area basis – sometimes perhaps on a make/marque concept. This would probably the same from Pigeon Racing Clubs to Bowls.
Now without dwelling too long on the pure accuracy of the matter I think it then follows that in most Sports – there will be a need for an overriding Governing Body/ HQ/Association/ Commission/Federation – call it what you like. In our case of course – the good ole ACU

For me – the most frustrating thing I hear and read every day is that the ACU should do this/that or the other – as if we are talking about some great body ensconced somewhere in the Midlands – for sure this is the conception. Staurt C and many others have already correctly mentioned this – but I will re-emphasise the fact. The ACU – is us. Full stop.
The clue is in the title – Auto Cycle Union. It is a “ Union” of Clubs and members. I have no intention of going down the road of defining articles of association/memoranda etc lets keep it simple.

So – going back - we have many hundreds of Motorcycle ( some like mine were originally combined with cars) Clubs. These all need to come under a Governing Body / Federation - the ACU.
Again like many sports – to make things easier to handle etc all these clubs are grouped together in regions/areas - in our case geographically – and we call these Centres. ( Regions often the word used in lots of sports)
Ok We have Individuals who ride / interested/ organise events on bikes – all grouped into Clubs
We have these Clubs grouped geographically into regional Centres.
We need to group all these Centres into a Governing body/association – in our case the Auto Cycle Union.
Probably – if it was all starting again today – I tend to think the Clubs would be very specialised. I.e. Trials Clubs, MX Clubs etc. Traditionally however I think it fair to say that many of our Clubs did – and many still do, run and get involved with several –if not all the disciplines. Certainly many clubs will have riders who compete – or have competed in many disciplines. I believe this is very important. There is no doubt it is often mentioned that things should be more separated i.e. Trials have now’t to do with Road Race etc and we should have totally separate bodies. ( I am sure we will return to debate this) I certainly do not agree – or ever will.
I base my view on the adage “ Together we stand – divided we fall” . With the World seemingly against us – I see no advantage whatsoever into dividing a Union up. Certainly there is a need to separate the disciplines/ money/ rules etc – but this is just a mater of administration.

I should mention here that all my explanation of structure until know has dealt with UK. Somewhere along the way – World matters come into play – and then we revert to the FIM – the Governing body of International Sport - and more recently the UEM – which if you like is the European arm of this.

So what has all this got to do with the price of chips? And how will it affect how the observer marks me on Sunday , or what events will be in the Championship next year etc, Lets move on.
Believe it or not the Governing body – ACU is an extremely democratic one. Possibly too much so.

From what I have already explained you see it is made up from Club members/Clubs, Centres.

There are approx 600 plus Clubs – some very small, some very big. Most I think you will agree no longer see their members pile through the door at the weekly/monthly Club meeting at the back of a pub etc. As with many sports – Clubs were once very strong – socially as well as competitively. Sadly it seems to me the majority are now not . We are not alone in this – society has changed – but I am afraid it is part of our problem – which we will surely return to.

Most Clubs tend to have a Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer – and most I think have some sort of Committee to make decisions about finance and other matters. In the main I am sure these Club Officials are totally unpaid – possibly the larger Clubs pay the Secretary some honorarium etc to help defray the costs incurred etc.

Yes – many of these Club Officials may appear when you go along as old farts - that is because all too often they are the ones who year after year are the only ones who will take the job on. They were young farts when they started - but no-one has filtered through to replace them. If a younger member turns up – he/her are often frustrated with the views of the older people doing the jobs – and unfortunately tend not to come again?

Big big problem – but the way of the world – hands up the parent who has never known better than the youngster? What I absolutely know for sure that these Club Officials – especially the Club Sec’s work extremely hard and give up many hours of their time – and are honestly the lifeblood of the whole shooting match.
I know many of you are interested in the money side of things. I think on average it seems that it costs us around £5 to £10 to join our Club. This money obviously goes to paying for the stamps/phone calls/ and other expenses the Club will occur in its day to day running.

Over the years there seem to have been a zillion methods by which each Club “ affiliates” to the ACU – and various methods by which they pay a contribution. At the present time the 600 Clubs each pay £5 ( small clubs) £10 ( big clubs) to ACU. They pay this to their regional Centre – who may collect slightly more – in order to cover their expenses etc
In order to make rules/govern / control finance etc you must have a structure. Many organisations/ businesses will have a Board of Directors at the top – perhaps a Management structure below , and then various departments down below.

Let us look at the ACU. Common sense tells us that you could not possibly have each and every member involved in decision making. Leaving the pure sport side for a moment and accepting that there are lots of decisions to be made on lots of things – it becomes fairy obvious that all our Clubs cannot be involved in all the decision making. It is also fairly obvious that if you are not going to have a centralised system to run the whole thing, this geographical regional Centre system now plays an important part.

There will be lots and lots of local issues and implications . So – each Club will be part of a Centre - and invited along to the famous “ Centre Board”. It is here that many many decisions are made.
Above I indicated the concept of older people running the Clubs – when we arrive at Centre Boards – it is this all over again in spades.

The Chairman/Secretary and Treasures and various Committees tend to be people trying to put something back into the sport. Some still ride of course – but the majority are “ putting back in”. If you are really interested in being involved in the structure/committee’s / way sport is run at any level above your own Club – this is where you need to be involved.

Long before I was on the ACU T & E Committee I was Centre Sec for our Centre – probably for about 15 - 20 years . Our Centre is one of the smallest – and I am here to tell you that the amount of secretarial work I did in the evenings was huge. Unless you are – or have been a Centre Sec – you will not believe it – but please take it from me – next time you see a Centre Sec - buy him or her a drink – or at least acknowledge their work.

If they seem a little crotchety at times – be understanding – there is one hell of a lot on their shoulders.

In the main – these Centre Officials will receive no payment – sometimes in the large Centres the Sec may be paid a small amount to compensate for the hours and hours of work.

It is at Centre Board that all Permits – (which are the Insurance document and Permission to run if you like) are issued for all events below National status. Local calendars will be produced . Centre Championships will be formulated etc. All ACU paperwork, minutes, decisions, will be sent here and debated.

In our system the Centre is really where one hell of a lot of it all happens. Centres obviously have to finance their running – and they may do this by way of various levies, payments by their Clubs , they will charge for the Permit they issue and there are various other methods used.

In our system – it is the Centre by and large that has the major control over all events run below National status.

Only right and proper then – that the Centres and their Clubs are the people who should be involved in the decision making and appointing people further up the chain.
Each Centre will send Delegates to the ACU National Council. It is here that voting etc takes place.

Obviously each discipline cannot be run by everyone – and so the day to day decision making needs to be done by Sporting Committee’s. Road Race, Grass Track, MX and T & E.

There are some non-elected committees who act in an advisory capacity – e.g. Medical, Technical.

Now – I know this bit interests many. There does seem to be little comprehension out there as to what Sporting Committee actually does. It is natural to think that they sit in a room and debate a few things of interest – and make a few random decisions about what rules we run under and where they will go for lunch.
This is far from the truth – and many who have been elected have found it is not at all what they thought – and
Have had a quick steep, learning curve. Perhaps in a future post I can include the Agenda items from a meeting and this will give a better indication.

Of course a set of minutes from each and every Committee meeting is sent to each Centre – and therefore the Clubs who attend a Centre Board meeting have access to them from all the disciplines. I know in some Centres they are read out – in others those interested examine them and so on and so forth.

Certainly in my Centre – and probably most others – if Sporting Committees record something in the minutes that needs querying/ diss- agreeing with or a request is needed to look at it again, either the Centre writes in, or often the Delegate from the Centre stands up and queries it at an ACU National Council. Obviously it is not productive to query each and every point – but this is usually discussed and sorted at Centre Board level – often the Boards having Comp Committee’s etc .

Back to ACU Sporting Committee’s
Most Committee’s are 6 people. The T & E is 8. Where do these come from? How are they elected?

For that matter why in hell are they elected? Some years ago – C/tee members could only be nominated from those who were already Centre delegates to National Council. I did not see too much wrong with this.

Some did – and as democracy does rule – it was changed – and for the last few years C/Tee’s have been open to nomination from really any ACU members. This is from the Centres and Clubs – but they do not necessarily have to be Centre Delegates to National Council - and even if they are – if elected onto a Sport Committee they have to relinquish the National Council Delegate role and someone else from the Centre replaces them.
All as clear as mud ?
Now – in theory of course – Joe Bloggs decides he is going to put the world to rights Trials wise ( or any other discipline for that matter) picks up the phone – states to his Centre Sec that he wishes to stand for a Committee.

What Joe sometimes continently forgets of course – that within the other Clubs and the Centre in the area – there may be other equally enthusiastic people who have worked their guts out for years – and feel that they to wish to put the world to rights. So someone has to be selected – and this sometimes causes a little friction.

Who do you think the Centre will nominate – someone they know is a worker, puts on events – or is associated with them, supports other Centre activities/Forums/ Projects etc - or Joe – who may be a great guy – and may be perfect for the job - but is unknown to them – or appears to have taken little if any interest in the past.?

Frustrating for Joe of course – but understandable ? And again the way of the world and many other sports.

The existing 8 Committee members ( in our case) will have come through the exact same system.

So who decides and who votes etc – well it’s again back to the Centres, and therefore really back to the Clubs involved in them. At most Centre Boards the list of nominees complete with CV’s is studied and the delegate is instructed to vote for whom they decide. In certainly the last year – maybe more – these votes are now published in the National Council minutes – so that after it is all over – those back in the Centre & Clubs can check that their delegate voted as they decided – and did not do some deal without telling them!

Each year two members of each Committee are due for re-election – and they have to re-apply and get Club/Centre backing same as everyone else.

One problem that occurs – is that good able people often fail to get elected – but common sense does really dictate that if existing C/tee members are doing a reasonable job – and that facet of the sport is generally going OK ( there will always always be specific areas of discontent ) it is quite likely that they will gain re-election.

Again this is the way of the world. Occasionally – when someone becomes to older ( under ACU you can only hold office until 70) or someone resigns, moves to a different post etc – there is obviously a vacancy which logically means new people will be introduced.

So who are these Committee people – well they are all Club and Centre people.
Many often still compete ( usually badly granted) . Every single member of the existing T & E Committee is involved at Club level – every single one of them put on events at Club/Centre and National level – often in both disciplines. Every one of them will have been Clerk of Courses from Club Centre& national level – with some at World level. Many will have had kids/offspring competing.

So whatever you think of them it is certainly not true that they are out of touch – and it is certainly not true that they do not care. Each and every one cares passionately – often too passionately - which perhaps means that commercial acumen goes out of the window because of the desire/enthusiasm for the sport.

Why they do it – I have already said – because of a love of the sport – and to put something back.

They certainly do not do it for money. No member of any ACU Committee gets paid one penny. They do get their fuel expenses paid to attend Sport Committee meetings – there are 9 – 10 of these per year. There are additional meetings/forums/licence seminars for some
They do not get Hotels or <mention of this company is not permitted on Trials Central> paid for to attend these meetings – unless obviously there is a meeting/ Forum on consecutive days that necessitates stopping over ( very rare – and actually probably saves on fuel costs and is more efficient than travelling twice)

It is time consuming - I leave home at around 6.30 am on day of meeting ( start 10 – 1030) – leave Rugby at a
About 5.30pm - and hopefully arrive home in time for a pint. That a 15 hour day with about 7 hours driving. Lately I tend to go up the night before to save the early start – and I get a <mention of this company is not permitted on Trials Central> halfway – at my own expense.
Perhaps they do it for the Glory ? Possibly – but as most of you could not actually name them without consulting the handbook I do not really accept this.

Is there perhaps a boost to ones ego to be involved in governing the sport – possibly?

Any Committee member who cannot take criticism ( if constructive) or does not accept that we will never get it all correct – is in the wrong post. Thankfully in the many years I have been involved I have not seen one of these.

As mentioned perhaps at a later stage it is worth looking to see what a Committee actually get up to in a typical meeting/year.

To dispel some other myths -No ACU Committee sets Licence –or Trials Registration fee’s, Insurance rates,
etc. They may be ( through their Chairman ) consulted – but these financial decisions are not in their remit.
If they feel they wish to submit a budget proposal for certain items – once a year this can be done – again through a proper established procedure.

Committee’s are responsible for formulating Rules and Regulations, they are responsible for all the Championships in their discipline and of course responsible for establishing the calendar.

This is obviously a brief resume – but will do for now. I believe all Committee’s try to listen – but common sense tells us they will rarely if ever succeed in pleasing everyone. There is always an alternative view – and especially on things like marking rules – they will always upset someone.

Frankly – what is the most annoying is when someone disagrees passionately about something – but because they do not get their own way – then slag off a Committee. I have explained that everyone has the chance to stand for such office. Personally I find it extremely irrating when those who have never taken the trouble to do so get on their soapbox and proclaim to all and sundry how they know best for the sport.
They have often never had the guts to stand themselves – too busy – riding or working or a host of other reasons – but feel it is their right to know best.

Constructive criticism is one thing. Disagreement – and saying so is fine – even disagreement on nearly every topic is OK -but constantly bleating on and one about the same thing or dreaming about the past is as much use as a chocolate fireguard. It is arrogant and childish in the extreme to believe one always knows best.

Finally in my explanation – we need to move to the final step in the structure – i.e. the Directors of the ACU.

As already stated – the Sport Committees have very little financial control – not are they overly involved in the political ( not best word – but you know what I mean) aspect. This is all down to the Directors of ACU and National Council.

Where do these Directors come from - simple – back to your National Council – which means back to your local centres – which means back to our Clubs – which in turn mean us.

In recent years there have been 12 Directors – including a Financial Director.

The most recent change was the decision to make the Sport Committee Chairman Directors – the aim being to ensure that the top end of the structure did not become too distant from the sport. Hence 12.

The Directors are responsible – as in any Company for the financial aspects – as well as most other things

This obviously includes appointing any salaried staff, responsibilities for all administration, building costs and decisions . FIM and UEM representation and the general running of the company.
A Chairman is appointed from within their number. No ACU Director gets paid – but like Sport Committees they are paid expenses for travelling to the various meetings etc. ACU Directors – as in other walks of life are subject to many legal restraints and responsibilities. They are also personably liable if things go wrong.

The paid staff of the ACU – range from the window cleaner to the Committee Secretaries and various other Secretarial staff. There is one ACU General Secretary – and in the past a Chief Executive ( this post not in place at present)

Who appoints the Directors? - who I suppose are often regarded as the top of the pyramid –(non – sport decision wise ) - simple back to the National Council – which means again Centres which mean Clubs – which means us?

The candidates for Directors usually come from Centres – but this is not essential – and again Centres and Clubs can nominate. Two Directors are due for re-election each year.
So there you have it – and I hope I have shown that it is a very democratic organisation.

All this of course depends very much on Centre involvement. There are 21 Regional Centres ( inc Scotland) and all have equal votes.

So to finish perhaps on an extreme / silly example. If you believed that all trials riders should be over 40.
You could go along from your Club to your Centre Board and persuade them what a good idea this was?
If they agreed – they would send this in as a proposal to National Council – where the other centres would all vote on it. If 11 agreed with you( majority) – deed is done – and all Trials riders would have to be over 40. See what I mean by democracy ? It never works like this of course – as silly ideas rarely get past the first hurdle and would never get agreement within the local Centre and so would not progress – but I hope you get the idea.

If you wish to change things – the quickest and easiest way must surely be to be involved at Club level – which can then progress things through Centre and National Council. I could list several examples of where such things have taken place fairly quickly.

If of course – you are not involved at Club and Centre level – the alternative is to write/speak to Committee members in such things as an annual Forum ! - Or hopefully try as many do to make your point – constructively on a web site such as this!

And so we begin

[copemech]

John, I must commend you on your article. That took a lot of thought and hard work!


My brain hurts now!

[totalshell]

excellent resume of who does what and why, thank you for taking the time
trials just for over 40's excelllent idea, could we also exclude any one whos any good or got a new bike that would improve my chances marginally come sunday

[Nigel Dabster]

Well done John, respect is due for an explaination which I believe few if any could have given.
A pertinent point and one which I feel should be made is the long winded way it is to try to introduce an idea/propsal and how the forum (cancelled) and now TC can short cut this.
Democracy rules and the little mans voice IS heard.
Can't wait to start.

[AtomAnt]

An excellent insight into the workings of the ACU and thank you for taking the time to compile and post it.

[Mich Lin]

Excellent job!

I can't remember ever reading such a concise and orderly presentation of a complicated process.

[pitley]

Nice words John.

I think that explaination should be in the ACU handbook every year so every member knows the full picture, then thers no cause for slagging of the people who put some serious time in to keep our sport what it is.

This post has been edited by pitley: 07 October 2006 - 06:58 PM

[AS iow]

Well done john respect to you, if all this had been said before maybe some of the missinformed comments would'nt have been made.
Just think if this ACU British championship unification thing gets off the ground we could have a fourm on the Saturday evenings and everyone would be there.

[rabie]

well done!

a very hard and complex subject to explain - even if i understand it!