There is merit in using one more Swimwatch post to explain why it is possible to support and dismiss Eugene Collins’ letter to Swimming New Zealand (SNZ).

Support is easy. The points made are valid and important. Ticket sales to the National Age Group Championships have been handled badly. Swimming New Zealand has not fulfilled its duty of care. There is no way that parents from all over the country should be forced to sit in the car park while their children are inside competing.

Dismissing the letter is equally straight forward. Eugene Collins’ intervention is too little too late. The list of SNZ atrocities is not limited to the sale of tickets to a swim meet. For ten years far worse than that has been happening. For example:

The Swimming New Zealand experiment in centralised training

For ten years, and at a cost of $14million, SNZ pursued a policy of centralised training based at the Millennium Institute. The same concept had been tried and dropped by Australia, the United States and France. But SNZ knew better. Two generations of New Zealand’s best swimmers were dragged to Auckland’s North Shore to be trained in the Federation program. For reasons discussed many times in Swimwatch the program was never going to work. It didn’t work and two generations of New Zealand’s best swimmers lost their careers. Eugene Collins probably won’t see his son compete at the Auckland meet. But that loss is trifling compared to the damage caused by the SNZ training policy.

The Swimming New Zealand army of coaches

Making the experiment in centralised training worse was SNZ’s inability to retain a coach. In the ten years since 2008 I can think of ten coaches who have been put in charge of the national program. One coach a year for ten years is negligence beyond belief. Eugene Collins’ current problems are nothing compared to the damage that caused.

Shallow Pools

In 2011, at the NZ Age Group Championships, I paid $60 to protest the depth of the Kilbirnie Pool. SNZ dismissed the case. They said starting at the shallow end of the pool was just fine. A short time later a swimmer from the Raumati Club lost her teeth diving into the Kilbirnie pool. And still SNZ did nothing. In 2014 I lodged a protest with FINA complaining that SNZ had signed Lauren Boyle’s 1500m record application saying the pool met all FINA regulations – when clearly it did not. SNZ lied. Eugene Collins might have to wait in the car park for his son to swim but at least his son will emerge with all his teeth. That’s more than can be said for some who placed themselves in the care of SNZ.

The Phillip Rush Court Case

In 2013 SNZ’s Open Water Manager, Philip Rush, was caught driving in the Wellington suburb of Miramar with more than twice the legal alcohol limit. Rush had three previous drink-driving convictions in 1989, 1996 and 1998. This was conviction number four. And yet in the Wellington District Court SNZ provided Rush with a glowing letter of support. The letter outlined his work mentoring young swimmers and managing teams going to world championships. SNZ’s inexcusable defence of a fourth drink driving conviction and a blood alcohol reading of 829 micrograms is more deserving of Eugene Collins attention than missing a swimming race.

Changing Room Photographs

In 2016 I was shown a photograph posted on Instagram of a topless national champion swimmer taken in the Millennium Pool girl’s changing room. I reported it to the CEO of Swimming New Zealand. Unbelievably I was told he did not think the photograph deserved further investigation. I threatened to report the photograph to the police. A week later I got an email saying the photograph had been investigated. No further action was required. “Is Eugene Collins’ son safe in the pool changing rooms?” seems more important to me than watching him swim a race.

Promises Broken

The Eugene Collins’ letter makes the point that, “It is of concern to note that the AGM minutes on your web site for both 2015 and 2016 are in draft and there are no minutes at all for 2017.” It is a valid point but also pretty typical of the sloppy administration characteristic of the organization. In recent months SNZ has been unable to book a pre-Games training camp, has selected an Oceania team half of whom didn’t want to go, has published and then been forced to withdraw national event qualifying criteria and, most annoying of all, has promised to inform members about government funding changes and then told us nothing. With SNZ in charge Eugene Collins could arrive at the Millennium Pool and find the event cancelled altogether.

Team selection broken rules

SNZ write eleven pages of Commonwealth Games’ qualifying criteria and then, when only two swimmers meet the conditions, select about a dozen relay swimmers and enter them in 28 individual events. I find that stunningly dishonest. The rule of law is important. One day Eugene Collins’ son could be on the wrong side of administrators who are prepared to bend the rules. This time swimmers were added. Next time – who knows?

The scheduling of major events is a mess

SNZ’s planning is in disarray. Last year an expensive high altitude training camp was programmed three months before the World Championships. I said at the time that the camp would ensure the failure of the team. You don’t need a Level Five coaching qualification to know that high altitude training three months out from a major event does not work. And sure enough it didn’t. This year the National Open Championships are in the middle of the winter short course season, three months after the Commonwealth Games. I’d love to hear from the genius at SNZ who came up with that idea. When Eugene Collins does get to Auckland he could find that the National Age Group Championships have been shifted to Invercargill in August.

SNZ flat out lie

SNZ told new sponsor, AON, that the number of competitors taking part in the Opens was growing every year. The truth is the number had declined. SNZ said in their Annual Report that the number of records broken last year was astonishing. The truth is the 49 records broken was the lowest number on record. And then Swimming New Zealand announced a “revised HP strategy”. But the truth was that “Mat Woofe will continue to coach the squad that currently swims out of that centre.” They just said it was a new direction to convince the membership that Swimming New Zealand was heading in a bold new course. And that was not true.

Conclusion

I could go on but am well past my limit of 1000 words. However I’m sure you get the point. The allocation of Age Group tickets is terrible – without qualification. It is however also a symptom of a deeper and more insidious malaise. This ticket fiasco may have done us all a huge favour by prompting action that addresses the real issue, rather than just the specific event that, on this occasion, has affected Collins and his family.