In a previous post in October of 2022, I reported on the new Athletics Ireland 'one-day permit' and the €2 levy for non-club runners taking part in races with Athletics Ireland permits.
I think it's fair to say that people have mixed views on this. Some see it in a positive light as it's a new revenue stream for the national athletics association, some are opposed to it because it makes races more expensive and a lot more probably couldn't care less.
The merits or otherwise are covered in that earlier post but I think it's also fair to say that it really hasn't had much impact if any on race numbers. The €2 levy has been in operation now for over 3-months and the overall numbers in Athletics Ireland races in Cork seems to be up if anything.
Shannonside radio station are reporting on their website that Athletics Ireland are now facing an anti-competition challenge on their one-day license. The basis of this seems to be the fact that all race entries must now go through one entity i.e. Eventmaster whereas before, clubs and race promoters had their own choice on race entry provider.
Athletics Ireland held their annual Congress last Saturday the 22nd of April 2023 and Shannonside report... "At the end of the finance report, a Cork delegate stated “that a legal action had been raised with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission”."
They continue... "The Athletics Ireland board immediately replied they were unable to comment on a live legal action.
In a statement to Shannonside Sport, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission confirmed “A complaint has recently been made to the CCPC alleging anti-competitive practices in this sector”.
“Due to the legal nature of this work, we are precluded from providing an indicative timeframe or updates on our examination.”
The same news item was repeated in the Irish Times but that is basically the same and based on the original Shannonside news item.
What's not clear at the moment is who made the complaint to Competition and Consumer Protection Commission? Was it an external commercial entity or was it from an individual, athletics club or county board?
As outlined in my earlier post, this new one-day license is likely to generate well over €100,000 per annum for Athletics Ireland so a legal challenge is a serious issue.
Link: https://www.shannonside.ie/sport/athletics-ireland-face-legal-challenge-on-running-tax-222327
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