Item in RAMBLIN' THRU MUSCLEDOM

BODYBUILDERS around the Los Angeles area have been reading in the Herald Examiner about the bodybuilding feud that is raging between Ken Sprague and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

As a result of the feud, Sprague has taken Schwarzenegger to court and has had him slapped with a $3 million libel suit.

Some of our readers may recall reading in "another" magazine that Arnold S., Franco Columbu and a host of other physiquemen were training in Gold's Gym in Santa Monica. This was supposedly a mecca for the top musclemen.

In the past year, however, most of these publicized bodybuilders have been migrating to the World Gym, just a few blocks away.

For the most part, the case is based on the personalities involved but also present is an undercurrent of the battle to have the IFBB affiliate with the AAU.

At several meetings last year the IFBB tried to bring about this affiliation but they were unsuccessful. In January of this year, however, Sprague and his associates arranged a meeting where the proposal was again brought up.

This time the outcome favored the affiliation. A protest was filed with the Executive Committee of the AAU, however, because the meeting was a closed affair and there were several policemen on the scene.

This created quite a stink with the AAU executives, especially since there have never been any closed AAU meetings...consequently, the vote was disallowed.

Unfortunately, we don't see this as being the final chapter in the story. More meetings will be called and the vote will probably be taken again. In fact, it is possible that another vote - let's hope - the final vote - will be taken at the AAU Convention in Texas this fall.

The pro's and con's over this affiliation still abound but it seems to us to be mainly an attempt by the IFBB to gain credibility; hence their strong desire to affiliate.

While there are some who believe that affiliation will help the bodybuilders, there are many others who are vehemently opposed to it. They point out that if the IFBB is such a "big thing" why is it that their former champions and organizers are now voting against the merger?

Ed Jubinville, for example, who ran most of the IFBB contests in the New England area for a long time, is strongly opposed to the merger.

Serge Nubret, a former IFBB champion who ran all the IFBB contests in France, has the same feelings, as do former organizers such as Ludwig Schusterich, Tom Minichello and others.

Physiquemen such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu, Dave Draper, Mike Katz, Lou Ferrigno and, more recently, Ricky Wayne and Kalman Szkalak were all IFBBers but they have now made their exodus. Szkalak, by the way, has now instituted a suit against the Weider brothers, we hear via the grapevine.

The thing that is so confusing for most of us is why is the IFBB pushing for affiliation with the AAU, an organization which they continually lambasted over the years, especially in the late 40s and through the 50s in their publication Your Physique.

One thing we do know, however, is that if such an affiliation takes place, there are going to be a lot of new organizations popping up...and there will be more dissension than ever.

This is not going to do anyone any good...and bodybuilders will be the ones to suffer the most!