Providing competition management opportunities to female officials

Officials are the unsung heroes of our sport. Without their dedication and expertise, athletics events simply wouldn't happen. In England, we are proud to have a strong and diverse officiating community with a near-equal balance of men (53%) and women (47%) involved at all levels, from grassroots to national championships.

However, this ratio changes to 63% / 37% at National List level. To address this imbalance, England Athletics are committed to providing female officials with opportunities to gain valuable experience in competition management roles at our Championships, preparing them for events at UKA level and beyond. As a result, 57% of the senior management and discipline chief roles at our three indoor track and field championships for 2025 will be filled by female officials.

We caught up with three of these officials to find out about their experiences, aspirations and advice to others.

Alison Moreland takes on the role of call room manager for the first time. 

“I have experienced working in a number of call rooms with a variety of other officials including at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 under the very experienced Clive Young.” 

Alison photographed watching the long jump take off board

Sue Grime follows on from Assistant Competition Director at last summer's age group championships with the senior Combined Events, stepping up to the role of Competition Director at our Senior Combined Events championships in January. Sue has also fulfilled the role at Northern Athletics events on several occasions.

Chris Head-Rapson will be on her third appointment as Meeting Manager for an England Athletics event, previously one outdoor and one indoor.

Before and after the experience

Alison said she is both surprised and honoured to be appointed to our indoor Age Group Championships.

“I hope to combine the best of what I have learnt to ensure that my team enjoy the experience, and the athletes have a calm and positive experience arriving at their event sites in good order and on time.”

Chris notes that while she hadn't receives formal mentorship for the role, she had completed the Competition Management Award several years prior.

The course covered Meeting Manager Duties, and she also benefitted from the support of the England Athletics team.

“I did ask someone who had done it before for some tips and was told, ‘you need to be first at the event site and last to leave’ which was very good advice.”

Sue explained that last summer was the first time that England Athletics had delivered the two championships on the same weekend, so it was a learning curve for all concerned.

“I learned how important it is to be able to think on your feet and keep a cool head particularly as the combined events timetable is determined by the duration of the individual events and so has to be very fluid which was then impacting on the Age Group events.”

Successfully handling unexpected challenges calmly and effectively boosted Sue's confidence, empowering her to take on the role again and pursue other management positions.

Tips for aspiring officials

All three women gave some useful tips for aspiring officials, male or female:

Alison advised, “Try lots of roles, talk to and share experiences with others. Don’t be afraid to ask questions; it’s how we learn. Get involved at whatever level makes you happy.  She added,

"I meet lots of different people - whether they are athletes, officials, coaches or parents.  It's great to be part of such a large family."

Sue told us that anyone who is interested in developing their skills and undertaking management roles can complete the UKA-delivered Competition Management course modules* and then ask to get experience at County or Regional level.

“This will be a good starting point and will then allow you to be put forward by your region to undertake the role at national level”.

*The Competition Management modules can be done by any Level 2+ official as personal development, or by Level 3+ officials to work towards the full Competition management Award. It's in the process of being reviewed and we'll update you when we receive information from UKA.

Photos by Nicola Evans