No-one Owns Motor Sport Officials

[RaceTime]

The officials who give so much to Australian motor sport cannot, and should not, be claimed by any motor sport representative organisation, as its property.

To do so is an insult to the commitment of each and every motor sport official and ignores the fact that they are generous volunteers who, for the most part, have acquired their knowledge and experience by long and hard-working days at motor sport events.

None have received specific, comprehensive training from any organisation or individual. All have received the totality of their training from many sources, including motor circuit management, fellow officials, other motor sport persons, participation as drivers, reading of various manuals and books and, for some, a portion of their training by way of a formal presentation by a motor sport organisation, circuit or government/semi-government authority. A few hours in a meeting room has not, and never will, replace circuit-based, hands-on training.

It is therefore totally inappropriate to refer to officials as being “trained” by any one organisation, particularly with any implied message that such training has been lengthy, task specific and comprehensive.


Full article at http://www.racenews.com.au/?racenews=3606 (too long to publish here..)

[Lyris]

Having another crank at CAMS are we RaceTime

[RaceTime]

No - the article was sent to me by AAA and it was published (as I believe it deserves to be).

If CAMS issue a release it getes exactly the same treatment.

[Lyris]

Hey I was not attacking you, I swear.

But CAMS honestly do need to pull their collective socks up.

[Onlooker]

Or their heads in

[RaceTime]

Fair enough - but as I said - on RaceNews - all sides get equal air time - even if I disagree vehemently with them.

[Lyris]

hmmm democracy, and equality, not concepts I'm particularily familar with

[RaceTime]

- neither is CAMS... (oops - sorry - I'll go outside and say that...)

[Hybrid]

Its hard to sit on the fence sometimes

[Onlooker]

"Those who sit on the fence ,usually rip their trousers"

[RaceTime]

The problem with an issue like this is that CAMS don't want to be seen to be trying to force anyone to do something - particularly after CAMS came out of their early 90's fight with BOb Jane as muddied as they did (Oh sorry - CAMS believe they won, didn't they...)

But, like it or not, CAMS have tried to coerce people tonot go to non-CAMS sanctioned events. Similarly a certain un-named category management group has also informed various circuits that they must use certain people - of course gutless to put anything on paper (although one track did forget that one bit once and put the 'request' in writing - but then backtracked very very very quickly when the letters T, P, A, A, C, C and C were mentioned in the same sentence...)

[Hybrid]

I have been trying to understand the different roles that CAMS and AAA are supposed to encompass by wading through the FIA.
It is very confusing
On one hand we have the FAI stating:

The National Sporting Authority (ASN) is the only recognised holder of the Sporting Power for all branches of motor sport in its country. The ASN is the direct motor sport representative of its country within the FIA. There is only one ASN per country, as follows: CAMS - AUS

Then on the other hand they state:

The FIA's supreme body is its General Assembly which comprises the Presidents of the 165 Clubs, Associations, Federations or other motoring organisations from 118 countries. Each country has one vote. The FIA members are the following : AAA (non voting) CAMS (voting)

CAMS have the following on there site:
The FIA has two divisions:
+ Touring and the Automobile – responsible for all matters relating to the ordinary motorist such as road safety, environment, consumer protection, mobility and tourism. This area is governed by the World Council for Touring and the Automobile. Represented in Aust. by AAA
+ Sport – as the world governing body for all forms of four wheel motor sport, including the FIA Formula One World Championship. This area is governed by the World Motor Sport Council. Represented in Aust. by CAMS

What I can't find, and maybe you could help me out here Racetime, is a clear line as to who controls what. Is it possible we are seeing a power play here between the two. Maybe they have to sit around the table and decide who does what and define a clear line between the two. Having said that I'm all for competition as this will benefit us as end users.

[Hybrid]

Silly, silly me.
I have just realised that the AAA and the AAA are two seperate bodies.

[SAMS]

Originally posted by Hybrid

The National Sporting Authority (ASN) is the only recognised holder of the Sporting Power for all branches of motor sport in its country.

If they are recognised holder of the Sporting Power for all branches of motor sport in its country What do ANDRA and the speedway people do?

It seems the self appointments are becoming Grander.

[RaceTime]

We are definately seeing a power play (in fact another AAA press release has just been posted on RaceNews).

Once again we get back to theproblem of who is who and who controls what (so excuse me if this becomes long..)

The FIA are a body supposedly appointed to control motor sport. But like a lot of other sporting bodies, the question has to be asked - under what authority do they have any legal right to do this.

I am assuming they will claim it is under United Nations charter of some kind - maybe someone else can answer this??

Within the FIA - yes they can and do say each country can have one representative voting body - for Australia that is currently CAMS.

But then you have the situation where CAMS doesn't appear to have a legal backing within Australia - and particularly under current TPA laws, they have no legal right to claim any monopoly. In fact they have no apparent legal right to even claim control over motor sport in general.

Thus, again under TPA rules and ACCC guidelines, any body can come along and say 'we are going topromote motor sport in this country' and CAMS can't do a thing about it.

Conceivably, it could also come down to AAA eventually controlling motr sport to such a degree that they actually replace CAMS at the FIA level.

The extended problem, as I see it, is that the FIA have before, when it suited them, tried wielding their big stick - and this is where the AAA need to be very careful.

The FIA has already thretened the AGP in Melbourne on previous occasions - the threat being that if CAMS and/or the AGP board don't toe the line they will pull the GAP out of Australia. The last time I am aware of this happening was when legal action was threatened over the refusal of the FIA to allow the local Dorian timing system to be used for support events.

Things have changed in this area as well - it may or may not happen (that the FIA make veiled threats) particularly as they have been investigated in Europe by the European Parliament over a number of issues in the past 5-6 years. Each time the FIA claim a victory, but more often than not, it is, in reality, a compromise or a very quiet back down by one or both parties.

I believe that the next 12 months will be very telling - in deed I understand that the next 30-60 days may have more blood letting than has happened for a long time in Australian motor sport.

[RaceTime]

Originally posted by SAMS
If they are recognised holder of the Sporting Power for all branches of motor sport in its country What do ANDRA and the speedway people do?

It seems the self appointments are becoming Grander.

Certain branches of the sport are 'sub-let' so to speak - drag racing, speedway - this is how AUSCAR Racing Pty Ltd became the Australian body in control of Super Speedway racing.

The more cynical would say they became the controlling body of Super Speedway because CAMS knew they would lose any legal fight with Bob Jane to prevent it from happening.

[Hybrid]

Just read the article on racenews. Very interesting and the board contains some names that will carry weight. This could be great news for the club scene.

[Crash Test]

Right or wrong, they've certainly got the propaganda machine honking over time! Perhaps a more useful strategy might be for the AAA to rock up to club meetings and have a Q and A with the people they are trying to reach..

[GTRMagic]

I just noticed the RaceNews subscriber report with someone giving RaceTime a serve for posting a press release that was in the view of the subscriber anti-CAMS....

Maybe the world doesnt want any free and open debate about anything, so the likes of CAMS can continue to crank up their fees in return for unclear benefits....

As ever, faults on both sides, CAMS for being complacent, and AAA for being proactive

If they resolve the licence issue, all will be sweet... up until then, the CAMS argument holds sway