Affiliation & Club Change Advice

I was wondering if anybody could assist, I've looked through previous threads but haven't found a definitive answer yet.

I'm a member of an affiliated club, mainly to get the entry fee discount, do I also have to have a personal affiliation with English Athletics, or is the club membership enough?

Also, I'm considering changing clubs at the end of the year, but previous threads seem to suggest this isn't as simple as it sounds, does it involve something more than simply letting one membership expire and then joining a new club?

Thanks for any info.

Comments

  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭

    Pie - to get the race entry discount you must have an EA licence, which you pay for through your club.  You should have an EA card?

    If you want to change clubs and continue to have an EA licence to get your discount on entry fees then unfortunately EA will ask you to complete a form and pay a fee to change clubs.   Used to be £10, not sure now.

    Try the EA website, if not the membership secretary of your old or new club should be able to advise on the procedure.

    I am a member of a running club and lapsed my EA membership a few years ago, but EA still have me registered with my club and even after years I'd still have to pay a transfer charge to get a EA licence through another running club.  But I probably won't bother.

  • Thanks for taking the time to reply, I thought it might involve a bit of hassle, I'll probably leave it as it is. 

  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭

    It's bureaucracy gone mad.   Originally I think the system was to keep an eye on clubs that were 'poaching' class runners, but ridiculous that if someone moves to another part of the country they have to complete that form and pay £10. 

    It's no wonder there are so many unattached runners.

  • DustinDustin ✭✭✭

    It's actually reasonably straightforward, although more convoluted that necessary.

    Some clubs automatically register you at EA - mine does - so an element of the membership fee is the compulsory EA fee (which goes up again next year).
    The form Shades linked is the right one I believe, but usually you just need an e-mail from your current club's membership secretary stating there are no objections to leaving rather than get them to fill out the form.
    Yes there is a £10 fee, but this applies even if your membership lapses with your current club. You just become 'inactive' at EA with your current club, so if you change in a couple of years you'd still need to transfer.

    The membership secretary of your new club should be able to assist if you get stuck, but normally the forms get processed in about a month.
    Just be aware that in any given season most leagues have a rule that you can only compete for one club, so if you race for your old club in XC in October and move in December, you can't race for your new club until next winter. But check with the league rules to clarify.

    It is overly bureaucratic but not really a big deal.

     

     

  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭

    Dustin - it's not compulsory to pay the individual annual fee to EA.   I'm still a member of a club affiliated to EA but I no longer hold an EA licence, my club gives us the option of paying the annual membership fee without the EA licence fee.   I can still enter ARC permitted races as an affiliated runner but not UKA permitted races.

    I've heard the EA fee is increasing by £1 a year until they get to £20.   Not sure what they'll do then.

  • DustinDustin ✭✭✭

    my apologies shades - what  I should have said is that with my club, the EA is compulsory. Rationale is with 600+ members having to sift those registered from those not for XC, track league, county and national events is a logistical nightmare. Besides for 10, 12, 20 p.a. it's still small beer in comparison to other sport costs.
    (and if you race enough, you recoup the fees: I get 12 xc and 9 T&F meets for nothing)

  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭

    Dustin - you must have some 2nd claim members in your club though?   Although there really isn't a 2nd claim any more.   But those that join another club maybe to train with them or for social reasons.   My club is a national club, so no training nights and we have a lot of 2nd claim members.

  • DustinDustin ✭✭✭

    Shades, yes we do, nearly all to compete as first claim in track & field.
     

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    The bit that surely doesn't make any sense, and is like we've gone back 20 years of law, is that unless you pay the £10 and go through the above saga, your original 1st claim club in effect hold your registration still.

    Even though they don't employ you, and even though your "contract" of membership has run out (if you simply didn't renew)

    Bizarre.

  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭

    Stevie - you're right, it is bizarre.   As I'm now considered as unaffiliated by UKA, having not paid a licence fee for a few years, so not eligible to enter UKA races as affiliated I still appeared in the RunBritain results for Budapest marathon last year as a UKA runner.   All I had done on my Budapest entry was to put my running club as I'm entitled to do.

    It's like the lyrics...you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave....

    I suppose it's all part of their plan to affiliate as many runners as possible to UKA, obviously it's not working as if you look at any race results the % of unaffiliated runners is increasing.  

  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    I came up in a parkrun's results as the club I allowed my membership to elapse from 6months ago.

    Quickly edited my parkrun page details in case anyone did get their moan on!

  • As I understand it, and I'm currently membership secretary at my club, if your membership of a club lapsed longer than three years ago EA won't demand the £10 re-registration fee, though they might still want you to fill out the form and get an email from your old club. I would recommend calling the EA helpline: I once sent an email to them about some issue and they took more than a week to reply; but the helpline has been very useful and much more quickly on more than one occasion. It's also correct that the fee is going up to £14 from 1 April next year, but again as I understand it there is no word yet on whether it will go up by £1 a year until about 2020, as has been mooted.

  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭

    Peter - yes, I saw that on the form about lapsing club membership for 3 years but for me I've remained a member of my running club and will continue to do so.   I'm still considered affiliated for ARC races anyway.

    I had just heard a rumour about the £1 a year annual increase.

    I think the £10 fee is a bit of a cheek, in the past I guess it could be called an admin fee but now it's the club membership secretaries that input runners details on the EA website and do all the admin.

  • I think its terrible that they cahrge a fee..........ok if you change part way through a year...

    but when you leave a club to charge you at the start of a new membership is rubbish.....

    I would just just register with the new club and sod the request to change

     

  • I didn't mind that much paying the £10 fee when I changed clubs just over two years ago, but I think I did end up with a 4-month overlap between fees I'd already paid to EA for my old club affiliation and fees I paid to SA for my new club. I know it's under a fiver, but that was slightly more irritating! image However, filling in the form and getting the transfer processed, with the help of my old and new club membership secretaries couldn't have been simpler, so I wouldn't let the prospect of 'hassle' put you off if you really do want to change clubs. I believe the transfer has to be approved at an EA committee meeting, as I remember timing my resignation to make sure it would be effective before the start date of my new club membership.

  • its seems so silly when the majority are just going out for a run.....a committee to approve that you can join a club.....how many times have they ever said no......sounds like a way to pay a bunch of old men money to do nothing

     

  • The current system is a scam. I wanted to change clubs because I was unhappy in my original club so I waited until the end of March 2019 when my original club and EA membership was due for renewal and joined a new club paying the club and EA fee advertised on the new club website. Problem was I became a member of the new club but not a EA member until I'd paid the extra £10 required on the EA website, which I never previously knew about. In effect I give money to the EA via the new club but received none of the EA benefits until I'd paid them extra via their website! When I complained to the EA they said they're just told to do it by the UKA. Someone needs to challenge this. Bottom line is, if I pay to be an EA member, I expect to become an EA member and not asked for more money.
  • SHADESSHADES ✭✭✭✭
    crag1 - I agree it's a scam.   They won't change it, it's been in place for years but prior to it all going on line it was easier to change without paying the £10 fee.  I changed clubs a few times and never paid the £10 fee.
    I wouldn't be surprised if they don't increase the fee soon.

    I saw something a while ago, think it was when one of the areas were voting whether to stay with EA/UKA and from the £15 that each athlete contributes to EA/UKA for their EA licence only 60 pence is put back into the sport, that's despite the generous funding that UKA/EA get.

    Club affiliation fees increased by 50% this year for no extra benefits to clubs or runners.  I believe that some of the funding expires in 2020 so hefty increases are expected.
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