Hi David,

I was interested in your question 5 above, where is the table you refer to? Could you please put it up?

SERIOUS
Some of this looks very serious! Take Q3 – your observations about misleading statements by SNZ about swimmers’ performances at international events as reported on the web.

We would expect that SNZ would be readily on top of those statistics.

Given the errors you identify, a member of the public is entitled to complain to The New Zealand Press Council about any newspaper opinion in circulation in NZ (including websites). As you know, in a large (very large) number of instances the NZ media simply cut and paste from the SNZ website. The journalists prefer not to do work for themselves (or even check accuracy!). If you locate a newspaper story to the effect of one of the main ones above – one of their cut-and-pastes – and lodging a compaint with The Press Council – no charge! – you will thereby end up forcing a change of practice in SNZ.

Question 5 seems to be getting plenty of attention.
How about this. It’s true is it – “recently” SNZ did not rate Lauren Boyle as one of NZ’s best swimmers. That’s an accurate assessment, yeah right! What was the date of publication of the SNZ table in Q5? .

Stevie – Cameron produced that ranking list in one of her newsletters from New Delhi. That was mid-October 2010. The Swimwatch story was dated 14 October 2010. It is easy to make mistakes with data like this. However in SNZ’s case it is so frequent and always in their favour – it just has to be intentional deception.

The Press Council is a good idea. I will look into it.

Stevie – you are right about Lauren. She didn’t get a mention because she didn’t do as well individually at Comm Games (comparatively speaking), although she was essential to the 4 x 200Fr team.

But what we need to remember is she is not the product of the Millenium Centre, nor the product of Cameron’s “heir apparent”, and so was always in Jan’s eyes, just a good swimmer, but never going to make it.

But hasn’t it be nauseating reading and listening to the SNZ PR machine in full throttle, jumping on Lauren’s shoulders for reflected glory. Remember, these are the people who were not going to send her coach to Worlds.

Several weeks ago there was a really good profile of Lauren in the newspapers (and one on Cara, not sure if there were any others), clearly placed by SNZ PR no doubt to try and stem the avalanche of bad news. But she made what I thought was a very prescient statement (for Koru Byrne – that word means perceptive!). She said:

“It is not my personal responsibility to turn swimming around. I prepare and compete to the best of my ability every time I represent New Zealand. I will be content with my results, and most satisfied with myself, when I know that I have done everything I can to reach the best of my ability”.

Bravo to you Lauren.

But to Coutler, Cameron, Byrne and Butler – DON’T YOU DARE try and claim that this team’s performances last week were the most successful at Worlds other than Danyon’s team. Or that it proves that we are doing well after all and things have turned a corner. These young swimmers performed DESPITE the organizational and structural failings and it is a credit to their coaches and the Team Manager that enabled them to just get on and do the thing they love the most (and we love the most) which is to SWIM.

Okay then. I would add these ideas.
1. The discrepancies shown by the Q 5 table were too big to be carelessness. The rankings put out by SNZ must have been meant for SPARC etc. I accept that misleading info has been intentionally put out.
2. Swim fans should not have to debate the reliability of stats. It isn’t easy to track world rankings when you have to look back. For example Melissa Ingram’s number in Q 5 table – hers was affected by fast times after Delhi – two at the Asian Games. I think David has taken account of one or both of those in his table.
3. Swim fans should be able to find on the SNZ website full info for international performances by the elite swimmers. But the website is totally lacking in hard data. Next to nothing in terms of individual rankings, FINA points, an historical perspective on NZ swimming. (Dont think they even have all the swimmers photos.)
4. Problems revealed by Swimwatch should be explored high up in SNZ: Ian Hepenstall should not carry the blame. What Ian can do – and I think he has already! (i.e. since last week) – is stop describing himself as “Media Liaison, Swimming NZ High Performance”. This is a linkage with HPC North Shore. Drop this link, drop any HPC agenda AND drop any other links with HPC management.

Question 7 is an absolute must in terms of getting an answer.

Nothing has ever been acknowledged about “Minutegate”, no apology, no “sorry we didn’t realise”, no “it was a clerical error”, no “it was our staff who made a mistake”. They were caught, absolutely red-handed with their fingers in the till.

But I can imagine some weaselly reply along the lines of “well they were only draft minutes, and this is what was recorded”.

Forgetting of course about the fact that the original minutes were still wrong, but the most offending phrases to them concerning going back to the regions for approval was mysteriously left out, seemingly overnight, without a word, notice … nothing.

The lying buggers!

David,

Your question ten fascinates me. I am not exactly sure where you are coming from there but I suspect you know something I don’t. I suspect there is a story there?

Please, someone who knows some more satisfy my curiosity.

What I do know is that Ross Butler is a man who trades heavily on his reputation and is quite obviously in CV salvage mode at present. Not a good look for someone who quite fancies himself as a professional director to be a part of a board which has obviously failed almost every test – competence, risk management, management oversight, while at the same time presiding over a festering cesspool of dishonesty. Remembering of course that he has been there since 2005 and has been involved in all the decisions of the last six years of this debacle including the appointment of the now aptly renamed Koru as CEO!

I am sure we will hear more about this man’s fingerprints over this mess – more than he would care to admit.