An Irish athletics voluntary group has launched an impassioned plea to remove the anomaly whereby Ciara Mageean was not representing Portaferry and Down when she became European 1500m champion in 2024, and more recently, Nick Griggs was not running for his home town of Cookstown in Tyrone when winning the European U23 cross-country title and leading Ireland to team gold in December.
World Athletics’ application of its political boundary rule since its adoption in 1934 means that track and field and all running athletes from Northern Ireland are officially representing the Republic of Ireland at European and World Championships.
This is in contrast with the Olympic Games, which are run by the International Olympic Committee, and where those donning the green singlet are representing the entire island of Ireland.
Friends Of Irish Athletics have been campaigning for a derogation to the rule in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement for a number of years but so far, their entreaties have fallen on deaf ears.
This week, they have issued an open letter to “the five principal stakeholders in athletics on our shared island,” in a bid to find a solution that will remove this unsatisfactory anomaly.
Athletics Ireland, Athletics Northern Ireland, UK Athletics, Sport Ireland and Sport Ireland have been issued with the letter, along with the Minister of State for Culture, Communications and Sport, Charlie McConalogue.
The minister has been asked, in a cover letter signed by Larry Larkin of FOIA, to facilitate bringing the various stakeholders together, “to engage in discussions on the possibility of securing a derogation from the World Athletics Political Boundary Rule,” that could be submitted to the next World Athletics Congress in China in September 2027.
With the Irish government “both a guarantor and signatory to the Good Friday Agreement, it has a duty of care to the people and sporting institutions of Ireland to ensure that the rights enshrined in that Agreement are honoured and respected by international governing bodies, including World Athletics,” Larkin notes to the minister.
A similar cover letter to Athletics Ireland CEO Hamish Adams urges that Athletics Ireland “has a duty of care to athletics on the island of Ireland to ensure that the rights agreed under the Good Friday Agreement are respected by World Athletics, including the ability for athletes to represent the island of Ireland at European and World Athletics Championships , as they do at the Olympic Games”.
At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, 41 athletes from Northern Ireland qualified to compete in 10 different sports, with 37 competing for the island of Ireland, and seven for Great Britain.
“We believe this is the correct way forward, with athletes allowed to choose which country they wish to represent, with no political boundary rule in operation,” the FOIA missive reasons.
It also points to the articles of association of Athletics Ireland, which states that the main object of Athletics Ireland is to foster and develop athletics on the island of Ireland, and argues that World Athletics has rejected Athletics Ireland as a 32-county organisation when it comes to World and European Championships by doubling down on the political boundary rule.
The Irish government has voiced support for this campaign in the past, and former Minister for Sport, Jack Chambers – now in one of the highest profile government positions as Minister for Expenditure – expressed support for the pursuit of a derogation, but put the onus on Athletics Ireland and UK Athletics to come to an agreement on it.
Chambers wrote to Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, in September 2022, proposing “a revised approach… more aligned with the spirit and intent of the Good Friday Agreement, that focuses so much on respecting and upholding the different identities and traditions of the people of Northern Ireland”.
Coe’s response labelled it “a membership issue between Athletics Ireland and UK Athletics,” but that it would be for Congress to acquiesce or otherwise “to make any amendment to the membership and territorial jurisdiction for the sport of athletics”.
McConologue has backed the campaign to achieve a derogation of the rule since sport came under his remit, himself stating in writing to FOIA last September, that “athletes and sportspersons from all parts of Ireland should have the choice to represent Ireland at all major international competitions. This is the case at the Olympic Games, where athletes from across the island of Ireland can choose to compete for Team Ireland.
“It is clear that for a derogation request to be presented convincingly before the world athletic authorities, with a reasonable prospect of a successful outcome being achieved,” McConologue continued, “that case will have to be driven principally by the governing bodies for athletics here in Ireland, in collaboration with their counterparts in Northern Ireland.”
Bringing a motion to the 214 member federations to grant a derogation, “would bring a long-standing division to a respectful and conclusive end, and open a new chapter for the sport of athletics across the island of Ireland, one rooted in unity, fairness and opportunity for all,” Larkin concluded.
