Iain Heaton, the UKPA’s Chief Executive Officer, has resigned from his post and stepped down from the executive committee of the UKPA, citing pressure at work and a desire to concentrate on playing polocrosse as the reasons for his decision. In a message to members of the UKPA he said that he was very sad to leave the UKPA at this point but he had to concentrate on his job and could not at this time commit enough time to role.

Iain had been on the executive committee for 6 years, joining it at the age of 23 as a player’s representative and then progressing to Sport Development Officer before moving into the CEO role in 2009. However, he probably became best known within the UK, and indeed in polocrosse around the world, when he jointly took over along with Quintin Cornforth, the UKPA Treasurer, as the Heads of the 2011 Polocrosse World Cup in February 2011, five months before the event was due to run, when there were a number of concerns about the organisation of the event. In his resignation email he expressed a special thank you to everyone who helped at the World Cup.

He stated that he felt that the sport had moved on a great deal in the last sixyears and was on the verge on a major increase in particpation in the UK. He also expressed his continued support for the UKPA’s committee, saying he would help in any way he could (he is believed to be travelling to South Africa next month to manage the UK’s Under 25), and urged the UKPA membership to help the officers of the sport run and develop the sport and said that without the membership’s help and support the officers could achieve very little.

The full text of the resignation message is below:

Dear All,

I’m sorry to announce that after 6 years on the executive I have decided to step down as I cannot give it the time that it deserves at present. I am incredibly busy with work and much though I hate to do so I have to prioritise that above polocrosse as it pays the bills. Also at weekends I want to concentrate on playing polocrosse (as that is what got me involved in this wonderful sport originally) and would like to be able to go to tournaments and simply play.

I would like to thank all the people who have served with me on the committee over the years and also thank you to the entire membership for all their help and support. In particular I would like to thank everyone who helped at the World Cup and put in horses etc, it was a brilliant occasion for UK Polocrosse and we could not have done it without all of you so thank you so much.

The UKPA has achieved so much in my time on the committee and I can honestly say that the sport has moved on so much that it is in many ways un recognisable from when I first started as a players rep. We have a brilliant team of executive and non executive officers in place at present and I know that on all the crucial areas such as umpiring, coaching, squad development and the development and promotion of the sport as a whole they are committed to driving the sport forwards in the next few months. Please give them your help and support in any way you can, this sport lives by the strength of its membership and without the memberships help the officers of the UKPA can achieve little.

I will continue to help in any way I can and will always be available to assist anyone in developing the sport but I can no longer commit the amount of time that I would like to performing my role and I do not want to do the role badly so I have decided it is better to step down.

I am very sad to go, particularly as I feel that we are presently on the brink of really moving the sport forwards and seeing a big increase in participation in the UK but as a very wise man once said (or rather sang) “you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em” and for now at least I have to fold.

Thanks again for all your help and support, it was an absolute pleasure and honour to serve the UKPA and its membership.

Kind regards

Iain