Two previous Swimwatch posts have compared the performance of Swimming New Zealand in 2011 and 2017. The comparison also considered how Swimming New Zealand had performed in comparison to New Zealand Athletics, Rugby and Netball.

The results were stunning. In every performance measure Swimming New Zealand was seriously worse in 2017 than it was in 2011. In competitive results, in membership numbers and in income, swimming is poorer now than it was six years ago. Athletics, Rugby and Netball however grew and prospered through the same years.

The Swimwatch posts used these devastating figures to support three recommendations.

1. A change to the SNZ Board and management responsible for the poor performance.
2. A call on delegates at the Annual Meeting to vastly improve their oversight of the organization’s performance.
3. A call for a more democratic and transparent Constitution.

In this post I want to focus on the poor performance of Regional delegates. At each Annual Meeting these individuals have a key duty to monitor the performance of the Swimming New Zealand Board and management. Some delegates have been attending Annual Meetings from 2011 through to 2017. In my opinion these long term delegates; people like John Mace, Mark Berge, Simon Perry, Bronwen Radford, Keith Bone, Dianne Farmer, Stephen Fryer, Wayne Rollinson and Neville Sutton have fiddled while Rome has burned. Some of the delegates consider themselves to be pretty knowledgeable and important in the world of swimming. Some even accept awards for outstanding administration. And yet their service in swimming appears to have been a sham. For six years swimming piled failure upon failure. Their duty as delegates was to hold those responsible to account. And, in my opinion, they did nothing.

Let’s consider some of the things they should have done but didn’t.

1. The Chairman, Bruce Cotterill, and CEO, Steve Johns, reported the following to the Annual Meeting.

The 2016/17 year can be best described as a year of disruption. We have had a number of changes in our executive and management team including a new National Head Coach and CEO. We have also suffered a significant reduction in funding from High Performance Sport NZ which in turn led to the disestablishment of two senior roles within the High Performance team.

That is a pretty horrifying list. Swimming New Zealand’s entire coaching team leaves or is sacked. The CEO departs and the organizations main source of funds pulls the plug. But of more concern is the fact that Cotterill and Johns reported the disasters without providing any explanation as to why they happened or what they intended to do about it. The only thing worse than the list of disasters is that delegates never asked for an explanation of why and what solutions were being actioned. For events this serious Cotterill and Johns should have been asked to explain and ordered to publish the explanation.

2. The Chairman, Bruce Cotterill, and CEO, Steve Johns, reported the following to the Annual Meeting.

On the positive side, the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio saw New Zealand Swimming represented by a team of 9 swimmers, three swimmers achieved personal bests.

Since when is three PBs from nine swimmers, competing in sixteen races, at an Olympic Games been a “positive side”? Maybe to Johns and Cotterill that’s positive, but administrators like Sutton, Bone, Radford and Berge know that a 19% ratio of PBs at an Olympic Games is terrible. But did they tell Cotterill and Johns that this was not positive news? Did they demand an explanation? Did they ask why? No they did not. And that is why we have the sport we deserve.

3. The Chairman, Bruce Cotterill, and CEO, Steve Johns, reported the following to the Annual Meeting.

The reduction of charity gaming income remains a challenge and has put significant pressure on our business particularly our education business. We continue to search for new commercial income as a high priority going forward. We need to shore-up and secure new funding streams as a matter of priority.

Here again Cotteill and Johns announce a real disaster; commercial and government funding has been cut to ribbons. Wringing their hands in despair, they go on to state the obvious – Swimming New Zealand needs more money. They should have been asked, “money from where?” Telling the delegates the problem without providing a specific solution is not good enough. In my opinion the Cotterill and Johns’ report shows scant regard for the reporting process. They get away with it because they know the delegates will let them.      

4. The Chairman, Bruce Cotterill, and CEO, Steve Johns, reported the following to the Annual Meeting.

The aggregate remuneration of key management personnel and the number of individuals receiving remuneration is as follows. Total Remuneration 2017 – $311,000, 2016 – $275,000 Number of persons 2.

At a time when Cotterill admits that funding the business is a real problem. He said, SNZ is in desperate need of more money. At a time when membership numbers are falling. At a time when competitive results are of such concern that the government’s funding is seriously cut. With all that going on the wages of Johns and Carroll increased by 11%. Even if the split is 50/50 they are paid $135,500 each. Is that level of pay justified by the results? I don’t think so. Gary Hurring and Donna Bouzaid got sacked so that two office bureaucrats could be paid $36,000 more. That is an order of priorities that the delegates should have demanded that Cotterill and Johns explain – but didn’t.

5. The Chairman, Bruce Cotterill, and CEO, Steve Johns, reported the following to the Annual Meeting.

An astonishing 49 New Zealand swimming records were broken between July 2016 – June 2017, including six open records and forty three age group records.

Forty-nine records is far from astonishing. In fact as far back as I can go I am unable to find a year in which fewer national records were broken. This report by Cotterill and Johns is spin. In my opinion the claim is misleading the membership. Any executive that does that deserves to be seriously reprimanded. But the delegates representing the Regions let it slide. The deception of the claim is matched only by the delegate’s negligence.

6. And finally the Chairman, Bruce Cotterill, and CEO, Steve Johns, report to the the Annual Meeting contains the superlatives shown in the table below.

And it means nothing. How can Cotterill and Johns be looking for thriving clubs when their policy of centralization stripped New Zealand clubs and coaching bare? How can they be interested in international podium results when their coaching policies have made that impossible? Just ask Lauren Boyle. How can they be interested in a strong and sustainable organisation when they have governed over a decline in income, a decline in membership and poor international results? But did the delegates to the Annual Meeting ask Cotterill and Johns to explain this nonsense? No they did not.

At the beginning of this post there are three recommendations. It is fair to say that the Cotterill and Johns’ report to the Annual Meeting confirms the validity of the recommendations. I just wish we had delegates with the courage to do what is needed to fix this shambles.