By David

My last Swimwatch article described the disruption to my daily routine caused by having two operations on an infected wound on my leg. Writing for Swimwatch has been difficult. Mr. Martin, the surgeon who skillfully removed the offending tissue and replaced it with a skin graft from my thigh, counselled against spending time sitting at a computer; preferring rest with my leg in an elevated position. And that is what I have tried to do.

Things seem to be going well. I saw Mr. Martin again today and he has cleared me for light duties. Interestingly he did point out a deeper section of the wound and said, “That’s your shin bone.” I guess it’s not everybody who has seen their shin from the inside – for me certainly, another first.

Anyway Mr. Martin’s opinion has cleared the way for Swimwatch to resume normal transmission.

A blog such as Swimwatch generates some email correspondence sent directly to the author of the blog. I don’t get a lot these emails; perhaps two or three a week. For example I received three messages this week. I have no idea of the answer to any of them. But let me share with you their content and perhaps there is a reader who can solve my correspondents’ problems. I must add that I have not checked the facts. Instead I will relay their contents simply as they were told to me.

The first email concerned the Junior Pan Pacific Games. I am told this event overlaps the National Short Course Championships by two days. As a result swimmers involved in the Pan Pacific Junior event will miss at least the first two days of the domestic Championship. That has the potential to be very serious for Junior Pan Pacific Games’ swimmers wanting to qualify for the Doha World Short Course Championships. The National Championship is the qualifying meet for Doha.

For example, a swimmer such as Bradley Ashby will be at the Junior Pan Pacific Games and will miss his favored 400 IM event at the Short Course Nationals; an event at which he could reasonably expect to qualify. So, if all that’s true, how is Swimming New Zealand going to accommodate a serious injustice. My guess is they will eventually realize their scheduling stupidity and will change the rules. An organization that can add relay swimmers into Commonwealth Game’s individual events outside the rules is capable of anything.

My second email questioned the $3800 user pays amount being charged to swimmers attending the Junior Olympics. My correspondent tells me Swimming New Zealand have said the amount is to cover travel, uniforms and the like but has not provided a detailed breakdown. I’m told the New Zealand Olympic Committee was contacted. They said travel, uniforms and accommodation for the Junior Olympics were paid for by the Olympic movement.

So just what does the $3800 SNZ invoice cover? Surely the National body is not into double dipping? Certainly the suspicion of making money out of the nation’s best junior swimmers is sufficiently high to demand Swimming New Zealand publish a detailed breakdown of the amount. We won’t get it of course. This, after all, is Antares Place behind closed doors.

Or is it? My third correspondent signed him or her self “Concerned Mainlander” and forwarded me a hilarious email. It was sent out by the CEO of Swimming New Zealand, Christian Renford. In it Renford includes the minutes of the last SNZ Chairman’s conference call with the Chairmen of the New Zealand regions. Renford attached what he said was notes on factors to be taken into account when preparing a modern “Health and Safety” policy. I opened the notes and saw why Renford’s email had been sent to me. Instead of health and safety notes Renford had attached notes prepared by an Australian real estate agent on selling Renford’s Sydney home. It’s all there, the expected price, selling expenses, details of the current tenants and Renford’s autograph.

Now my concern is not the hilarious mistake of adding a personal house sale’s agreement to a SNZ document. We all make those sorts of mistakes. It does however make a mockery of Renford’s email “Excellence” sign-off. Attention to detail may be in need of attention. No my concern is the impression and probability that Renford is conducting personal business on Swimming New Zealand computers. The obvious proximity of his house sale’s agreement with SNZ files suggests Renford may be using SNZ property for his personal use. The impression is sufficiently real that a Regional Chairman should be asking for an explanation.

After all it was only a few years ago that the Chairman of the Hawkes Bay Poverty Bay Region complained to my employer when he received an email from my work computer; an action I was asked to explain. Let’s see whether the current Chairman of the HBPB Region is as diligent in pursuing the CEO of Swimming New Zealand for possibly the same transgression.

Because personal use, if that’s what this is, is certainly a transgression. This is how a prominent US attorney describes the rules.

The use of company automation systems, including computers, is for company business only. Use of company computers and internet access is a privilege granted by management and may be revoked at any time for inappropriate conduct carried out on such systems, including, but not limited to engaging in private or personal business activities. If you violate these policies, you could be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal.

The Board of Swimming New Zealand need to clarify whether a SNZ asset is being used, by the CEO, to conduct personal business. If Renford is using a SNZ asset to sell his Australian property did the Board approve that use and where is the published record of that approval?

So that’s this week’s three emails. As I say, if any reader can throw light on their content, positive or negative we would love to hear from you.