From a distance and without knowing any of the parties involved, I have been watching the saga unfolding at the Masterton Swimming Club. The Head Coach has been the subject of a Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) and Swimming Wellington inquiry into complaints made about the coach’s behaviour. My interest was aroused because of the problems I faced at West Auckland Aquatics.

The purpose of this post is not to discuss the merits of the problems at either the Masterton Swimming Club or at West Auckland Aquatics. I don’t know enough about what has occurred in Masterton to discuss its merits. I have read a letter sent to club members by the coach in which she describes the allegations made against her as follows.

Her letter then acknowledges some fault and her decision to submit her resignation. It says;

So that is a summary of the Masterton issues. However, as I have said, the details of all these events are of no concern to me or Swimwatch. In this post, I want to address the involvement of SNZ in both the Masterton and West Auckland cases. In both clubs SNZ had a problem to deal with. Did the organisation handle their responsibility well?

The good news is that in both cases SNZ got involved; through Swimming Wellington in the case of Masterton and through Auckland Swimming in the case of West Auckland. In both cases the issues involved were sufficiently serious for them to receive the attention of the parent body. There was however a noticeable difference between the ways SNZ decided to handle the two disputes. In the case of West Auckland, SNZ assumed the leading role in the investigation. Auckland Swimming took a back seat. In Masterton, Swimming Wellington conducted the enquiry and SNZ restricted itself to an oversight role.

I don’t think that difference is important. The critical point is that in both cases the problems were brought to the notice of the parent body and SNZ rightly decided they deserved their attention. The only criticism I have heard is that the problems in Masterton had been apparent for far too long before SNZ or Swimming Wellington decided to act. However SNZ are in a difficult position. There is no way they should dive into every club squabble in the country. Therefore some delay is understandable while they determine whether the dispute is of sufficient consequence to merit intervention. In the case of West Auckland the involvement of SNZ was timely. Certainly things could not have been left any longer than they were.

While the SNZ decision to get involved in the troubles of the Masterton and West Auckland clubs was appropriate, what was vastly different was the manner of their resolution.

In the case of Masterton, Swimming Wellington reached a conclusion, distributed that conclusion to the club Committee and to the coach and then allowed a 28 day appeal period. Swimming Wellington then prepared a letter that explained what they had done. The letter made it clear that the “panel imposed a number of sanctions on the club member.” The letter went on to make five recommendations that covered the formation of a new Committee, the distribution of information, continuing staff training and the distribution of an apology.

These matters are often messy affairs no matter how well they are handled. However in this case, it seems to me, that the conclusions were properly arrived at. The club lived to fight another day. The coach decided to resign and move on. The re-set button had worked.

That was the very opposite of what happened in the West Auckland case. In that case SNZ were provided with a list of complaints made against me. Some of these are included in the table below.

At the cost of several thousand dollars SNZ decided to employ a clinical psychotherapist.to investigate and report on the allegations. I was interviewed aggressively over the course of three days. It was not easy. The accusations were devastating and potentially career ending. And worse, there appeared to be an assumption of guilt. Certainly the knives were out. Eventually I was told a decision would be made, a report would be written and I would be informed of the result. I was told I would receive a copy of the report.

Well, a decision was made, a report was written but I was never told the result or provided with a copy of the report. I assume I was cleared of all the allegations. If I had not been cleared SNZ would have had me hanging upside-down from a power pole outside Antares Place. I have long been of the view that because the report cleared me, because it was a pack of disgusting lies and a gross waste of time and money, SNZ decided to brush it all under the carpet.

SNZ’s view of justice is that the accused should be subject to obscene allegations, a three day trial and, if innocent, should never hear the verdict or be told they are free to go. SNZ has never given me the report, as they promised, and have never even emailed me the conclusions – nothing, just silence. No one should be treated the way I was on that occasion. Bruce Cotterill can grin and wave at me in the pool as much as he likes. But I will never forgive him for the injustice of his decision to withhold the report, to not communicate the conclusions and to avoid publically clearing me of those accusations.

He was prepared to spend thousands trying to nail me. He was happy to subject me to a three day trial. He had no concern for my emotional and financial cost. He allowed those who had perpetrated the grotesque lies to escape sanction. I guess he was content with the thought that if you throw enough mud some of it will stick. And when he discovered there was nothing there he walked away without even communicating the verdict. It was an injustice beyond belief. And it is still an open wound. If the great hand of God was to go as deep as possible and lift Cotterill up as high as possible, he still would not reach the bottom.

So well done Wellington Swimming, not because of the decision you made but because of the way you made it. SNZ, as usual, not so much. But I am still waiting in hope.