the Scottish javelin record holder James Campbell has accused UK Athletics of treating throwers as second-class performers in comparison to their track-based counterparts.

The 26-year-old, who came seventh at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, has claimed the governing body's choice of a British-based surgeon, at a lower cost, led to a series of shoulder problems which forced him out of the sport for almost three years until his return this summer.

That decision, Campbell says, hints at a policy which favours athletes like Mo Farah and James Dasaolu ahead of those in the field.

While UKA officials declined comment on the medical care offered, the Loughborough-based Scot has called for a radical change from within the sport to raise the level of backing. "There is no national structure when it comes to throws in general," he said.

"It is a complete mess. All the resources have been poured into track events and relays for the last few years and you can see the results. What sprinters in the UK are doing now is exceptional. Imagine if they had invested in evenly spreading their resources, and given throwers of a similar ability - level to what some of those sprinters were when they were put on relay funding - the same opportunity.

"This doesn't mean just throwing money at them. It is finding a system that seems to work in Germany, Finland, Russia etc. and applying it to the UK. Everyone seems to feel threatened by each other in UK javelin for whatever reason. There are now people making huge efforts to correct this so I hope in the next few years we will see a change."

UKA officials, led by recently-appointed head of throws Peter Stanley, believe that they are ahead of the curve with plans to "educate and develop British coaches whilst developing targeted athletes in that event area." Campbell, on the verge of breaking into the elite before his injuries unfolded, will continue to juggle a full-time career with javelin following the loss of his Lottery funding.

But in revealing that he binned his UK Championship bronze, he has accused a sub-section of athletes of being more concerned with social media followers and domestic supremacy than chasing success at a global level.

"Getting a medal in a javelin competition in the UK nowadays is not a great achievement," he said. "Sounds harsh to say it but if people actually want to do the sport to be good at it they need to look at themselves and admit that what they are currently doing is not good enough."