The title of this post is a quote from a favourite of mine, the Cuban revolutionary, Che Guevara. I was reminded of the quote when I read the following story on the British BBC website.

Now there is a problem British Swimming should be doing something about. If the same problem existed at a New Zealand club, Swimming New Zealand should be finding a way to get the club’s financial problems sorted out. But, desperately sadly, they don’t. In the UK and in New Zealand swim bosses have much more important things to do.

Or they think they are much more important. There is waste of time and money; Millennium training camps to run. Gary Francis has to update his squad lists and pay for more academic time standards that mean nothing and will lead nowhere. Steve Johns has to sit around inventing new ways for swimmers to pay him more to do the same thing. Para swimming, open water competitions and junior festivals are all being ripped-off.

Fortunately I am not the only revolutionary that fights for the cause of justice in swimming. In the UK, journalist, Craig Lord has wielded his pen with all the skill and effectiveness of a Che Guevara gun. Lord has taken on some of the biggest issues facing swimming – and he has prevailed. He has been a revolutionary standing up to FINA and the IOC. He was instrumental in changing the world’s attitude towards drugs and the sport’s rules on cheating swim suits.

And he is still doing it. His revolutionary pen is leading the movement to professionalise swimming. He has seen the injustice of the amount swimmers get paid. He has identified the fact swimmers are little more than chained slaves being transported around the world to work for their country. Swimming 100 meters is a swimming landowner’s way of having their slaves pick cotton. Che Guevara said, “It is better to die standing than live on your knees.” Craig Lord is still alive and still standing and long may his revolution in swimming last.

Here is what Lord wrote about the problems in Cardiff. You can find the original on his Facebook Swimvortex page.

I am at a loss to understand why bureaucrats in the UK don’t listen closely to what Craig Lord says. He is so obviously right. But, for reasons unknown to me, the bosses drink their latte and dash about in their alternative universe. Make no mistake, swimming will change. The world of the swimming bureaucrat is so morally bankrupt, so corrupt, that it cannot last. Make the most of it Cotterill, Johns and Francis because your world and your lives are going to change. Swimming will have its Bay of Pigs moment and the world versions of Cotterill, Johns and Francis will lose.

Let me tell you a story that explains all you need to know about why Cotterill, Francis and Johns are going to disappear. Yesterday I was in the Millennium Pool’s Whole Food Café enjoying my morning pot of green tea and a bowl of potato wedges. Don’t tell my doctor about the wedges.

Two tables away four Swimming New Zealand staff were in deep discussion about a problem of some sort. I have no interest in the problems of Swimming New Zealand so was not listening to their conversation. But one of the group – I don’t know his name – was talking so loudly I couldn’t help but hear his every word. Clearly Swimming New Zealand’s problem meant a lot to this person – so much so that he wanted everyone in the café and probably the pool to know about it. I’m surprised Craig Lord, asleep in London, wasn’t woken by the commotion.

In a voice filled with anger and exasperation the Swimming New Zealand person announced to the world, “What would you do? They said they wanted a “STRATEGIC BASED PERFORMANCE PLAN” and when I got there they asked for a “PERFORMANCE BASED STRATEGIC PLAN”. How can I deal with that?”

See what I mean. There is no way that bull shit can last.