Committee: Club Captain

Communication between the runners and the club committee is all important if the club is to prosper. In the beginning the club had five Glasgow Sections plus Sections in Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire. Each Section had two members on General Committee and the General Committee had one rep on each Section Commmittee. There was also communication with athletes from outwith that area - eg Hugh Barr came from Edinburgh, Stewart Duffus from Arbroath. There was someone resposible for communication with each runner. When I joined the club, the club captain filled that role: he discussed places on the Edinburgh-Glasgow team, he knew who was fit and who was not, he was in fact the go-between between the Committee and the athletes. It worked well. In recent years the position has not been filled effectively except for the short time that Gus Cairney did it.

The team captain was responsible for finding out who was able to run, persuading the reluctant, assisting the important but unfit runners and going to the Secretary with the team and probable runners. The Secretary has plenty to do without selection being one of the extra duties! The captain picked the team, the secretary filled in the form and the treasurer wrote out the cheque. Who is the best candidate for club captain at present? With the AGM coming up, thoughts should be turned to who is the best person for the job so that the club gets the best man for the job.

Tied in with the captain is the issue of whether we have a team manager or not. In the past there have been team managers at some times, at other times not. By and large a non running team manager is an asset. He is available for consultation by the captain about doubtful selections, provides support at committee meetings and enters the teams on the day. The captain has too much to do on the day to collect numbers. We only have to look back at the last cross country season and note that four different people were responsible for collecting the numbers etc for the Senior Men's Team. The club really needs a conscientious team captain, selected by the runners and elected at the AGM.

The Ladies and Girls are slightly different and I will return to them very soon.