Most people involved or interested in sport in the UK know that UK Sport is the organisation responsible for the distribution of National Lottery and Exchequer funding and ultimately are responsible for elite level performance in partnership with the National Governing Bodies (NBG) for each sport. 

These people also understand that the British Olympic Association (BOA) and British Paralympic Association (BPA) look after TeamGB athletes at Olympic/Paralympic Games time.  There is no doubt that all of these organisations have done a fantastic job in recent times and a great deal of this is down to their desire to become more professional in their operation.  However, quite rightly, their job is to focus on the "group" as apposed to the "individual".

So who looks after the swimmer, the fencer, the wheelchair basketball player when things aren’t quite right? In the first instance those athletes can turn to their NGB who will undoubtedly do their utmost to help. But what if the dispute is between the athlete and their NGB?

In 2003 a group of athletes recognised that there was a requirement for an independent organisation to represent the views of all elite athletes in the UK and set up the British Athletes Commission (BAC). The original remit of the BAC was to facilitate athlete representation and communication pathways within sports and to ensure that the views of elite athletes were communicated coherently to the key decision makers in British sport.

Initially, the BAC worked very much under the radar while it developed relationships with NGBs and National Sporting Organisations, building trust in the way it operates and represents athlete’s views.

Now, however, the BAC is becoming a much more visible organisation in the UK elite sport landscape. This has occurred through the need to represent the athlete’s views publicly and to raise awareness of the BAC as a commercial organisation.

To ensure that the BAC can guarantee its long term independence it now generates its own income alongside the grant funding it receives from UK Sport. This is achieved through athletes paying a membership fee of £60 per annum, through partners who work with the BAC and through sponsorship.

Since the middle of last year, the BAC has undergone a strategic review of all its operations and has split its operations into two areas:

• Core operations - which revolve around its free services of advice and representation to the athletes

• Elite Athletes Club - which is a membership organisation designed to provide fantastic benefits and services to athletes, retired athletes, and the support service staff around those athletes. The club will operate as a separate trading company of the BAC, with the sole aim of generating income to support the BAC’s core services.

So why should anyone be interested in what is effectively a trade union? To answer this question we have to look at the three stakeholder groups who are linked to the BAC.

Until now the majority of Lottery funded athletes have only ever had to engage with the BAC when things go wrong. Put simply, if everything was going to plan there was no motivation for an athlete to have any involvement with the BAC. 

This has changed. There are now over 15 benefits providers associated to the Elite Athletes Club and the discounts available make the £60 annual subscription a steal. 

I have been a member since its inception and my subscription payment was covered in the savings I made in just three nights hotel bookings.  If your mobile phone contract is up for renewal you’d be crazy not to look at their offerings. On top of his the BAC now deliver access to a schools speaking programme - AthletesDirect - and a sponsorship and appearance service at no cost to the athletes.

The second group that we have to consider are UK Sport, the BOA/BPA, NGBs and the four National Institutes of Sport. Engagement with these organisations has been a priority for the BAC and there has certainly been great development in these relationships. 



Team2012 may never have got off the ground without intervention from the BAC and that has resulted in a £10 million investment from Visa which has meant increased funding to some of the sports that received cuts last year.  If that alone doesn’t persuade these bodies to develop stronger ties with the BAC then they also need to consider the savings that they will make by ensuring that their performance staff sign up to the Elite Athletes Club. If every NGB performance team benefited from the savings available here the amount of money saved would be phenomenal. And which NGB isn’t asking for more money?

Finally, there’s the corporate sector. This is an easy one for me. Delivering a benefit through the Elite Athlete’s Club gives an organisation access to over 2,000 potentially new customers for very little work. Not only that but those partner organisations can tell the world that they are supporting every elite athlete in the UK.  Furthermore the opportunity to become the title sponsor of the BAC is still available, amazingly. Whoever snaps this up will steal a march on their competitors and will have a great story to tell.

Ignoring the British Athletes Commission is a mistake all of us could and should avoid making. 

For more details on the BAC click here.

Karim Bashir is a former British international fencer who won a silver medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. He is the founder and managing director of Catch Sport, an online sponsorship brokering service which is free to use for athletes from all sports.