| Note | The Belfield - Maynooth debacle. The Women's and Men's events were held the same day, but at different venues. At the last minute the religious authorities at St Patrick's College Maynooth refused permission for the women's race to be held. The UCC Women's team, having travelled to Maynooth, did not make the start of the race at Belfield due to transport difficulties. They asked in vain for the start of the race to be held, but the organisers decided to run the race at the designated time. The tension between religious decorum and sport gave rise to derisory newspaper headlines such as 'Maynooth Goes Stag'. There was much speculation at the time of these championships that the N.I.A.A.A. and the B.A.A.B. had banned Q.U.B. from competing. However Queen's had not sought permission to compete as they were required to do, allegedly because they felt they would be refused permission in light of the then 'frosty' relations between B.L.E. and the N.I.A.A.A. All the University clubs in Ireland had to affiliated to their official National governing bodies. An Irish Universities Championship in which all the Universities were represented was an "international" contest held under the rules of the I.A.A.F. member in whose geographical area the event took place. The clubs from outside that area were required to apply under I.A.A.F. rules to compete in such contests through their own I.A.A.F. member. |
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