Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
National Athletic and Cycling Association
The National Athletic and Cycling Association (NACA or N.A. and C.A.), from 1990 the National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland (NACAI or NACA(I)) was a federation of sports clubs in the island of Ireland practising athletics or bicycle racing or both. It existed from 1922 to 2000, though for most of the period it was not the sole governing body in Ireland for either sport. Its refusal to recognise the partition of Ireland got it expelled from the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Clubs formerly in the NACAI are now affiliated to Athletics Ireland or Cycling Ireland, each formed by the merger of the NACAI with rival bodies respectively affiliated to the IAAF and the UCI.
The NACA was formed on 19 July 1922, from a merger of the Irish Amateur Athletic Association or IAAA (including its subsidiary the Cross Country Association of Ireland), the Irish Cycling Association (ICA) and the Athletics Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). The GAA was Irish nationalist and mainly rural, while the IAAA and ICA members were mainly unionists, universities, and the urban middle class. The IAAA was linked to the Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA).
The unionist-dominated Northern Ireland and the nationalist Irish Free State had recently been separated politically, and the GAA was prepared to surrender its authority to ensure national unity in athletics and cycling and avoid a division which would reinforce the reality of partition. The GAA after 1923 thus restricted itself to Gaelic games, ceding athletics and cycling to NACA, with which it remained on friendly terms. John J. Keane, previously Chairman of the GAA Athletic Council, became first NACA President. Whereas the GAA had a ban on members of the RUC and British Army, the NACA narrowly voted not to introduce such a measure.
The NACA affiliated to the IAAF on 11 January 1924, and sent teams to the Olympics of 1924, 1928, and 1932. It also sent five athletes to the 1930 British Empire Games in Canada. In each case, the team was claimed to represent "Ireland" rather than the Irish Free State.
In 1937, the National Cycling Association (NCA) was formed as a NACA subsidiary for cycling clubs, and affiliated to the UCI. The Rás Tailteann was its headline event, an 8-day stage race whose name reflected the Tailteann Games.
Already by 1925 there was a split, with the Northern Ireland Amateur Athletic, Cycling and Cross Country Association (NIAAA) formed over a dispute concerning an Easter Monday sports meeting in Belfast, which as well as athletics featured greyhound racing and associated betting, which had been allowed by the IAAA but not by NACA. Since the meeting was to raise funds for Belfast Celtic F.C., with an Irish nationalist fanbase, the NACA alienated nationalists as well as unionists in Belfast. The NIAAA affiliated to the English AAA in 1930, with its unionist president Thomas Moles encouraging links within the UK, and Dawson Bates, the NI Home Affairs minister, lobbying the AAA.
In 1931, Eoin O'Duffy was president of the NACA, and raised at the IAAF the dispute with the British AAA over jurisdiction over Northern Ireland. The IAAF deferred a decision till its conference at the 1932 Olympics. In the meantime O'Duffy tried to resolve the matter by proposing an Irish Amateur Athletic Union (IAAU) in negotiations between NACA and the NIAAA, to have an agreed flag containing the arms of the four provinces on a background of St Patrick's Blue. However, the proposal foundered when an NACA general meeting insisted that the flag used at international events be the Irish tricolour rather than the IAAU flag. The IAAF decided in 1932 not to intervene in the Northern jurisdiction dispute.
In 1934, the IAAF amended its constitution to require member associations to be delimited by international political boundaries. After a year's delay, the NACA council voted 24 to 27 to reject the IAAF decision and was suspended the following month. There was no Irish team at the 1936 Olympics, other Irish sports boycotting in solidarity with the NACA exclusion. In 1937, some clubs in the Irish Free State left NACA and formed an Irish Amateur Athletic Union (IAAU, the same name as the abortive 1932 proposal) whose remit excluded Northern Ireland. The IAAU applied to join the IAAF, but due to British objections to the name "Ireland" was required to rename itself the Amateur Athletic Union of Éire (AAUE). AAUE affiliation in 1938 meant the NACA was definitively expelled from the IAAF. Most Irish athletics clubs remained in NACA, and it was NACA that was affiliated to the Irish Olympic Council, though it was AAUE athletes who competed at the Olympics. Ronnie Delany's gold medal in the 1956 1500 m was not mentioned at the next NACA executive meeting. In 1959, Tom O'Riordan's scholarship with the Idaho State Bengals was jeopardised when he ran for his local NACA club while visiting home in Tralee. The AAUE, whose Secretary Louis Vandendries was on holiday, reported him to the IAAF, which suspended him; upon Vandendries' return he defused the controversy by informing the IAAF that O'Riordan was now in good standing with the AAUE.
Hub AI
National Athletic and Cycling Association AI simulator
(@National Athletic and Cycling Association_simulator)
National Athletic and Cycling Association
The National Athletic and Cycling Association (NACA or N.A. and C.A.), from 1990 the National Athletic and Cycling Association of Ireland (NACAI or NACA(I)) was a federation of sports clubs in the island of Ireland practising athletics or bicycle racing or both. It existed from 1922 to 2000, though for most of the period it was not the sole governing body in Ireland for either sport. Its refusal to recognise the partition of Ireland got it expelled from the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Clubs formerly in the NACAI are now affiliated to Athletics Ireland or Cycling Ireland, each formed by the merger of the NACAI with rival bodies respectively affiliated to the IAAF and the UCI.
The NACA was formed on 19 July 1922, from a merger of the Irish Amateur Athletic Association or IAAA (including its subsidiary the Cross Country Association of Ireland), the Irish Cycling Association (ICA) and the Athletics Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). The GAA was Irish nationalist and mainly rural, while the IAAA and ICA members were mainly unionists, universities, and the urban middle class. The IAAA was linked to the Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA).
The unionist-dominated Northern Ireland and the nationalist Irish Free State had recently been separated politically, and the GAA was prepared to surrender its authority to ensure national unity in athletics and cycling and avoid a division which would reinforce the reality of partition. The GAA after 1923 thus restricted itself to Gaelic games, ceding athletics and cycling to NACA, with which it remained on friendly terms. John J. Keane, previously Chairman of the GAA Athletic Council, became first NACA President. Whereas the GAA had a ban on members of the RUC and British Army, the NACA narrowly voted not to introduce such a measure.
The NACA affiliated to the IAAF on 11 January 1924, and sent teams to the Olympics of 1924, 1928, and 1932. It also sent five athletes to the 1930 British Empire Games in Canada. In each case, the team was claimed to represent "Ireland" rather than the Irish Free State.
In 1937, the National Cycling Association (NCA) was formed as a NACA subsidiary for cycling clubs, and affiliated to the UCI. The Rás Tailteann was its headline event, an 8-day stage race whose name reflected the Tailteann Games.
Already by 1925 there was a split, with the Northern Ireland Amateur Athletic, Cycling and Cross Country Association (NIAAA) formed over a dispute concerning an Easter Monday sports meeting in Belfast, which as well as athletics featured greyhound racing and associated betting, which had been allowed by the IAAA but not by NACA. Since the meeting was to raise funds for Belfast Celtic F.C., with an Irish nationalist fanbase, the NACA alienated nationalists as well as unionists in Belfast. The NIAAA affiliated to the English AAA in 1930, with its unionist president Thomas Moles encouraging links within the UK, and Dawson Bates, the NI Home Affairs minister, lobbying the AAA.
In 1931, Eoin O'Duffy was president of the NACA, and raised at the IAAF the dispute with the British AAA over jurisdiction over Northern Ireland. The IAAF deferred a decision till its conference at the 1932 Olympics. In the meantime O'Duffy tried to resolve the matter by proposing an Irish Amateur Athletic Union (IAAU) in negotiations between NACA and the NIAAA, to have an agreed flag containing the arms of the four provinces on a background of St Patrick's Blue. However, the proposal foundered when an NACA general meeting insisted that the flag used at international events be the Irish tricolour rather than the IAAU flag. The IAAF decided in 1932 not to intervene in the Northern jurisdiction dispute.
In 1934, the IAAF amended its constitution to require member associations to be delimited by international political boundaries. After a year's delay, the NACA council voted 24 to 27 to reject the IAAF decision and was suspended the following month. There was no Irish team at the 1936 Olympics, other Irish sports boycotting in solidarity with the NACA exclusion. In 1937, some clubs in the Irish Free State left NACA and formed an Irish Amateur Athletic Union (IAAU, the same name as the abortive 1932 proposal) whose remit excluded Northern Ireland. The IAAU applied to join the IAAF, but due to British objections to the name "Ireland" was required to rename itself the Amateur Athletic Union of Éire (AAUE). AAUE affiliation in 1938 meant the NACA was definitively expelled from the IAAF. Most Irish athletics clubs remained in NACA, and it was NACA that was affiliated to the Irish Olympic Council, though it was AAUE athletes who competed at the Olympics. Ronnie Delany's gold medal in the 1956 1500 m was not mentioned at the next NACA executive meeting. In 1959, Tom O'Riordan's scholarship with the Idaho State Bengals was jeopardised when he ran for his local NACA club while visiting home in Tralee. The AAUE, whose Secretary Louis Vandendries was on holiday, reported him to the IAAF, which suspended him; upon Vandendries' return he defused the controversy by informing the IAAF that O'Riordan was now in good standing with the AAUE.