One of the major problems that I have observed in organised sport, is that at some stage there is one organiser or administrator that forgets that he is involved in the sport FOR THE LOVE OF THE SPORT, and suddenly finds a taste for money. Until the late 1980's early 1990's most running, cycling, sailing, duathlon and chess events were organised by either provincial associations (selection trials) or clubs. The members of the club would all volunteer to do something, and a small profit would be turned on the day, which would be used to defer some of the clubs expenses. This however changed when a number of things changed. Firstly, club members started "becoming too busy" to volunteer, (maybe because the club lost contact with the needs of its members), Secondly, enterprising individuals realised that they could get access to the profit if they filled this gap caused by apathy of club members (these guys often contracted with the club to share profits if they organised the club events), Thirdly the national/regional bodies, started losing control over the sport and the calendar which allowed more space for organizers to host events independent of the national and club structures, which made club events even less profitable Fourthly parents became more involved in the associations and ignored the importance of clubs along with the needs of adult sport, and hijacked events as fund raisers for the youth teams and other charities, and lastly, because we as participants were no longer involved in race organisation, we floated away from the club structures and were eager to pay exorbitant entry fees for events with "big" goody bags and hospitality tents.
