Merger may help retain athletes A merger of Little Athletics with Athletics Australia could result in the popular junior sport receiving millions of dollars in federal funding and help tackle the chronic problem of the drain of vast numbers of talented juniors from the sport. The Australian Sports Commission has offered $2 million of funding to facilitate the merger if all parties agree to join after a six-week review. "We think this is a reform of historic significance," ASC chairman John Wylie said. A merger could also entitle Little Athletics to direct federal funding for the first time. Little Athletics is one of the biggest participation sports in the country, with more than 100,000 children competing each weekend, but it is self-funded and receives no direct federal government money. Athletics ranks fourth for ASC funding for high performance ($6.57 million in 2013-14), but because of the relatively low adult participation rate it ranks a lowly 23rd for ASC participation funding ($300,000 in 2013-14). The merger with Athletics Australia would theoretically entitle Little Athletics to a significant slice of ASC participation funding. "We are not pre-judging funding outcomes, but that's clearly a possibility," Wylie said. There are a wide range of benefits to combining organisations: better talent pathways from junior to senior level - athletics at the moment is losing a lot of kids from the 12-14 age; a better pathway for commercial sponsors for whom the capacity to sponsor the entire sport from junior ranks would be appealing. Under the Byzantine management structures in athletics, 21 different bodies manage the sport. In a sport such as Australian rules, there are four. Under the ASC model being considered, there would be one new board of nine - four board members from Little Athletics, four from Athletics Australia and one independent commissioner - which would be the peak governing body for athletics in Australia. Whether the other subordinate boards remained was to be determined. Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said the merger was "long overdue." For too many years extremely talented young athletes have not made the transition from junior to senior ranks in track and field. They have been lost to other sporting codes or simply dropped out of the sport instead of realising their athletic ability and competing for Australia at the Olympic Games. This partnership will ensure the crossover from junior to senior ranks does occur.