By David

I have told this story before. It concerns Mohammed Ali who was arriving at Miami Airport. The driver of his car called the airport to arrange to park Ali’s car in a restricted zone that would allow the champion to get through the terminal quickly and avoid the pressing crowds that inevitably gathered when Ali appeared. According to plan, the driver parked in the restricted area and went into the airport to collect his employer. A few minutes later they emerged to find a parking warden, standing at the car, writing a ticket. The chauffer explained that, because this was Mohammed Ali, the airport authorities had approved the arrangement. The warden was incensed – just because Ali was the world heavyweight champion that did not give him the right to park anywhere he wanted – and defiantly stuck the ticket on the car window. The driver was about to argue when Ali gently put his hand on his shoulder and said, “Just take the ticket. It’s more important to him than it is to us.”

About four years ago Rhi had just returned to Florida to train with her old swim team. On her first afternoon there was some excitement around the pool; an Olympic Gold Medallist was back swimming at the pool. I was discussing the afternoon’s training with Rhi when the Pool Manager, a guy called Joe McNeely, came out of his office and strode purposely to where we were standing. “Has Rhi paid to get in he demanded?” “No” I said, “she is joining the swim team and the cost of her pool entry is covered in her coaching fees.” “I don’t care about that,” he said, “has she paid her coaching fees today?” I explained that it was Rhi’s first day back in Florida and her father, who lived in New York, would be paying the fees shortly. McNeely however was not to be deterred. Either Rhi paid her training fees there and then or the cost of pool entry was due. I paid him the four dollars. Clearly it meant more to him than it did to us.

Last weekend a West Auckland Aquatics’ swimmer called in at her boyfriend’s home. Visiting her boyfriend’s parents, at the same time, was the mother of three girls who used to swim at West Auckland Aquatics. She’s the same woman who said to me, “How could you?” when we secured the Court’s approval for Justin to be a member of Swimming New Zealand. On this occasion she asked our swimmer what plans she had for Christmas. Emma explained that she planned to have Christmas lunch at her grandmother’s home. “Oh” came the harsh reply, made crueler by the cutting Irish accent, “I’m surprised HE allows you to have Christmas Day off.”

There is no place in sport for people like her. Rhi, Jess, Justin, Erica, Nikki, Abigail and a dozen others work until they bleed with hurtful chlorine burns and she finds fault. She thinks it’s just fine to demean their efforts. But then, I guess it means more to her than it does to us. At least that’s what I told Emma.

And today I heard that New Zealand swimming official, Jo Davidson, may have been appointed to work at the London Olympic Games. If that’s true it is a fact beyond my comprehension. You see back at the 2002 New Zealand summer championships Jane Copland was favourite to win the 100 and 200 breaststroke. Shortly after the heat of the 200 one of the West Wave life guards came to where I was sitting and said he thought I should know that he had just taken Jo Davidson and two referees down to the underwater viewing windows below the West Wave pool. As he let them in he overheard Davidson tell the referees, “Now, Copland is swimming in the next heat and I will show you what to disqualify her for in the final tonight.”

It turns out the two referees were appointed to act in the finals session that night and Jo Davidson was setting out to ensure a swimmer whose father she didn’t like did not become a national champion. I went to the National Coach, Clive Rushton, and asked him to deal with a rogue official. To his eternal credit Clive took the complaint seriously and called for a hearing. Davidson looked as guilty as hell. And well she should. That sort of behaviour has no place in any sport. Anyone guilty of blatant cheating has no place officiating at an Olympic Games. Swimwatch analytics tell me that there are regular Swimwatch readers in Lucerne, Switzerland. I can only hope this report causes them to alter one of their appointments to the London Olympic Games. Swimming New Zealand will never do anything about her. The bunch of crooks in Wellington probably think Davidson behaviour represents all that’s good in the sport. Knowing what she is capable of they keep putting her name forward as a New Zealand official.

Finally, I heard today that Emily Thomas has just retired. That’s a shame. She is a very good swimmer who represented her country with distinction. Her bronze medal in the 50 meters backstroke at the Pan Pacific Games last year was New Zealand’s best performance since the Jeffs, Simcic, Loader and Langrell era. Who knows what the reasons are for her, all too early, retirement. What is inexcusable is that she has gone without a mention by Swimming New Zealand. This athlete represented the sport of swimming in New Zealand with absolute commitment. Swimming New Zealand has a duty to report and applaud her career. Ignoring her is the sort of inexcusable bad manners we came to expect during the Cameron era. It appears Miskimmin’s hired help know no better.

Mohammed Ali is right. The bad behaviour of the parking warden, Joe McNeely, a mother with an axe to grind, Jo Davidson and Swimming New Zealand is best ignored. Ali’s ability to turn the other cheek deserves the utmost respect. In the meantime us lesser mortals will write the buggers up on Swimwatch.

By David

For a number of years New Zealand had a Director of high performance swimming called Clive Rushton. He will probably be horrified when he reads this but, I liked Clive. His ideas on coaching were more scientific than my “swim and when you are really tired – keep swimming” methods. But he was good to me and my swimmers. He had dinner at my home one night when that carried all sorts of political perils. It was one of those enjoyable evenings when the wine and stories flowed happily well into the small hours. When Toni Jeffs left me to swim on her own Clive provided her with good and important advice. He was also responsible for one of my favourite coaching quotes. When I called to let him know I was leaving New Zealand to coach in the US Virgin Islands he said, “That’s great David. Coaching is always best done under a palm tree.”

Clive has posted a comment on the Swimwatch story I wrote about calling a special general meeting. I felt his point of view was sufficiently important that it should be a Swimwatch story in its own right. After all Clive was there; right in the heart of Swimming New Zealand. He was there when a lot of the decisions that have ended up in the mess we are in today were being made by Cameron, Byrne, Coulter and his Board. Here is Clive’s point of view.

“OK, to put some perspective on the “we knew nothing”, “it’s not us” debate:

Way back in 2001 I had a High Performance Advisory Group (HPAG) which met periodically to discuss the various issues and which debated with gusto and passion. Although the makeup changed over the years it was comprised of combinations of the following: me as HP Director, Director of Coaching, whatever I was called at the time, the leader of the National Age Group programme (Clive Power), the leader of the National Youth programme (Trevor Nicholls), a coaching representative from NZSCAT (Mark Bone, Frank Tourelle), the immediate past National Coach (Brett Naylor), a High Performance director from another Olympic sport (Mark Elliot), two high performance coaches (Duncan Laing and Jan C), a former international swimmer (Trent Bray) and the swimming representative from SPARC (latterly Don Tricker). I was not obliged to take up the group’s recommendations (“advisory”) but they were included in my reports and many good suggestions found their way into the HP programmes.

The Board was fully aware of the group’s deliberations as, in the early days; I personally attended Board meetings for the HP-specific portions. Latterly this changed and the reports and proposals were presented to the Board by the CEO without my presence. The accuracy and comprehensiveness of these later presentations was always in question The idea of a HP Advisory panel is, therefore, not new and not revolutionary. It is, however, vital.

The dysfunctional nature of the MISH programme and Jan’s role in it was known to the Board as early as 2007 and had been intimated much earlier. Following the 2007 World University Games I instigated an extensive and comprehensive analysis of the lead-in preparation and the competition itself. Every team member (swimmers, coaches, team manager and support staff) as well as each swimmer’s ‘home’ coach completed a questionnaire. I say every team member but hey, guess what? Jan ‘forgot’ to complete hers. I won’t go into the very fine detail of the answers and comments but here is an illustrative example:

“The Head Coach did not fulfill her role as head coach. From day one of the trip, she made a clear division in the team between those swimmers who train at the Millennium Institute and those who did not. Everything from training times, transport arrangements, consulting swimmers about arrangements, uniform requirements, and even ‘team’ meetings were segregated, creating a distinct ‘them and us’ dynamic within the team. I was asked once during the entire 10 day period of the build up and competition by the head coach whether “everything is OK”, and even then it seemed to be a token attempt to offer assistance, as she barely stopped to hear my reply. There was a clear message of “if you’re not one of ‘my’ swimmers, then you don’t matter”. I believe that if New Zealand Swimming is to move forward then swimmers must feel that when they make the same qualifying standard as other swimmers, they are just as valuable as part of the national representative team as any other member. They should also feel that there is one team that is supportive of all its members, not two-tiers within the team, with the criteria for these tiers being whether or not your home programme is under the head coach or not.”

The rest of the feedback followed a similar line.

The SPARC representative was present at the HPAG meeting which examined the report and analysis, so SPARC were fully aware that everything was not rosy way back then. The report was then submitted to the CEO and subsequently to the SNZ Board.

That was four years ago, three years before the performances in New Delhi were deemed weak enough to trigger a review. There is a significant time-lag between a breakdown in culture and trust and the knock-on effect in the performance pool. In the meantime some of the best swimming talent in the world has been lost or misguided.

The President and, I guess by definition, the Board was made aware of Mike Byrne’s management style in mid-2008. Accusations of bullying, harassment and intimidation of staff were sent in writing to Murray Coulter who ‘investigated’ them and took no action. This was followed by a complete review of the SNZ staffing structure which put in place the current disastrous ‘team’.

Mark my words, if the swimming community in New Zealand wishes for change in Swimming New Zealand it will not get that change by waiting for it on a voluntary basis; turkeys, Christmas etc.”

That is a pretty damming document. The Regions of New Zealand swimming must not let this moment drift by.

By David

Last week we reported on the Swimwatch request made to the Office of the Ombudsman. We asked The Ombudsman to order Swimming New Zealand to release the Sweetenham Report. We have now received a reply. Here is what The Office of the Ombudsman had to say:

Dear Mr Wright

I have spoken with Mr Fieldsend at SPARC.

He has contacted Swimming NZ again and they have confirmed that they will be releasing the Sweetenham Report along with a substantial amount of other information on their website by the end of next week.

Given that a decision has been made to release the report and that the release is imminent, section 18(d) would typically be used in such situations.

Yours sincerely

Investigator

Office of the Ombudsmen

At the time of writing this article we have been waiting 17 days and 12 hours for Swimming New Zealand to perform the two minute task of posting the Sweetenham Report on their website. For some Regions the wait has been a touch longer than that. SNZ were asked by the Regions to make the Report available when it was first published three years ago. Until Swimwatch got on to their case SNZ consistently refused every request. Then 17 days ago SNZ told Swimwatch they would publish the Report “soon”. Assuming the Report is posted on the SNZ website at the end of next week we will know that the Coulter, Byrne and Cameron idea of “soon” is 24 days.

It really is pathetic. Coulter works for the Bank of New Zealand. I hope his idea of “soon” has not crept into that organization’s business. “Your interest will be paid soon”, takes on a whole new frightening meaning. In case you end up at Coulter’s desk it might be an idea to transfer your funds to the ANZ. No wonder New Zealand’s swimmers have struggled to win a world class swimming race; if the Millennium swimmers have had to stand around for 24 days waiting for all the “soon” things to be delivered. I hate to think what state their suits must be in if the new ones are about to be delivered “soon”. As with everything at Swimming New Zealand their idea of good business is well short of an acceptable commercial standard.

Swimwatch were alerted to another Swimming New Zealand travesty this week. In 2008, when the Regions commissioned Project Vanguard, this is what they ordered.

That the Board appoint a sub-committee consisting of three board members and three nominated regional representatives to review the current regional structure and make recommendations to the board as to how this could be optimized.

What Coulter, Byrne and Hemsworth have come up with is a plan to abolish the Regions all together. That is not what they were asked to do. Why are they incapable of doing what they are told? They were told to “optimize” the Regional structure. That means, recommending ways of improving the Regional structure; making it better. The Regions were asking for ways to improve their operation. They were not turkeys voting for Christmas to come early. It’s the first time I’ve heard of anything being “optimized” in oblivion.
Coulter and Byrne and Hemsworth, the Coulter Gang, have acted way outside their brief. They have assumed powers they were never given. They have acted with reckless independence. Their behaviour merits censure and dismissal. They have not provided the Regions with a plan to improve performance. Instead they have pursued an agenda of power way outside their commission. What the Coulter gang has turned Project Vanguard into is an abomination that was never asked for. On this transgression alone Project Vanguard should be dismissed by the Regions and its authors relegated to some other occupation.

Here at Swimwatch we no longer see a need for a Regional go/no go vote. The fact that the Coulter gang has acted so far outside its brief should be the subject of a judicial injunction relegating this whole sorry Vanguard episode to a small and sad chapter of New Zealand swimming history. We will have a studied opinion on all this when the legal report we have commissioned is received shortly.

Among a number of specious claims made by the Coulter Gang during the Project Vanguard process is that “the restructuring will help maximise the resources available leading to a reduction of operating costs.” As has been pointed out in previous Swimwatch articles how can anything that pays for work that was previously done for free possibly reduce operating costs. Mind you, when it comes to money, I wouldn’t trust a thing the Coulter Gang say. There website tells me there are 16 professional staff. A cursory count of the organization chart tells us there is in fact something in excess of twenty paid staff. Mind you errors of fact are a speciality of the Coulter Gang’s website.

There is one job that is of interest. I see the Millennium Institute High Performance staff roster now includes an Intern, someone called Emma Dean. What on earth does an Intern do in the High Performance environment? What high performance service does she provide? Does she work closely with the either or both of the High Performance Coaches. Were her duties the subject of an application to the SNZ Board? Did the Board approve her appointment and confirm that her duties were important to New Zealand’s international sporting success. Here at Swimwatch we would be especially interested in hearing, just how does Emma Dean fill her days?

Next week Swimwatch will report on the contents of the Sweetenham Report. Without taking the step of making an Official Information application I am certain that the Coulter Gang would still be keeping its contents secret. Let’s hope the wait of three years and 24 days has been worthwhile. We think it will be. Why else would the Coulter Gang have hidden the thing this long?

By David

Even the most casual reader of this swimming blog will be aware of the genuine concern we have for the future of elite swimming in New Zealand. For months we have focused on the Cameron led program’s glaring shortcomings. Swimming New Zealand appears to be oblivious to its perilous condition. After a 2010 Pan Pacific Games that yielded not one medal in an Olympic swimming event and a Commonwealth Games without a win, Swimming New Zealand’s website unbelievably described the position as, “looking pretty bright for New Zealand Swimming”. New Zealand’s sights, they said, were set “on the London Olympics in 20 months with a real sense of belief and purpose.” The whole thing was surreal. It still is.

True, SPARC has picked up that something is not right and has decided to investigate the Cameron empire. I’m not at all confident their inquiry will yield much. For a decade Cameron and Swimming New Zealand have been able to peddle and sell their story of honey tomorrow. A whole country bought into that fairy tale. Main stream media abandoned any effort to be objective and published SNZ’s press reports without question or comment. Journalists working at Sky Sport and Radio Sport became advertising agents for swimming and it’s ironically named High Performance Program. Conning a couple of SPARC sleuths should be a breeze.

Already Cameron is setting the scene. A close friend of a prominent Millennium swimmer trains on my West Auckland Aquatics team. I’m told that Cameron’s spin on the SPARC investigation is that it is simply the result of two swimmers, Moss Burmester and Hayley Palmer, complaining to SPARC and that if SNZ loses its SPARC funding then it will be their fault. Once again, it’s not Cameron’s responsibility. It never is. In her mind, rebellious troublemakers are the problem. How spineless though, to blame a swimmer like Moss Burmester. SNZ “traded” off his success for years to secure their SPARC funding. And as for current swimmers, like Hayley Palmer, I am certain they have not been the source of recent extensive coverage in the mainstream media or of SPARC’s concerns. They have certainly never been the source of any Swimwatch story. My guess though is that this Cameron fantasy is the line SPARC’s investigators will be told. I can only hope they are as incredulous as I am.

I attempted to find out if there was any truth in the Hayley Palmer story by calling her father who is the CEO of Auckland Swimming. He was sympathetic to my concern but would not discuss his daughter’s swimming in any political context. I understand that. The last thing he wants is to compromise Hayley’s swimming career by talking to a pretty rebellious Swimwatch. While I was on the phone I took the opportunity to say that I had also heard a rumor at the December Auckland Age Group Championships that Hayley had been training outside the Millennium Institute coaching program. Was that true? Again, he was very reserved in his comment. He did confirm that Hayley had been swimming with Paul Kent prior to Christmas and that she is leaving for the United States next week, that she will be swimming there in preparation for the World Championships and that she is no longer swimming at the Millennium Institute although she remains a “gold-carded athlete”. What he did say was how grateful they were for the likes of Kent who have generously stepped up to help with pool space and other support. As it related to broader and more detailed issues, he declined to make any further comment.

Whatever the truth, I hope Hayley is not yet another recipient of some Cameron rough justice. I don’t know Hayley Palmer. I’ve never met or spoken to her. However I have watched her career with more than casual interest. Some Swimwatch readers will know that for several years I coached Toni Jeffs. In that time Toni swam in the Barcelona Olympic Games and won bronze medals in the Pan Pacific Games and what was then the World Short Course Championships. While Toni was swimming with me she won 15 New Zealand Championships over 50 or 100 freestyle and broke the New Zealand record for those distances on 16 occasions. She was clearly New Zealand’s best freestyle sprinter. I was not coaching her when she swam her final 50 freestyle fastest time in a National Record of 25:48.

The weekend I returned to New Zealand I attended the New Zealand Commonwealth Games Trials. I was delighted to watch Hayley Palmer break Toni Jeffs’ 50 freestyle National Record. Palmer already held New Zealand’s best time for 100 meters. The mantle of New Zealand’s fastest swimmer had moved to a new pair of shoulders. And Hayley Palmer was clearly a very fine recipient. Today without the complications of two per country and all that other SNZ smoke Hayley Palmer (25.01) is ranked 15th in the world over 50 freestyle and 22nd (54.68) in the world over 100 meters. Her 50 time is less than half a second away from the world’s top three and her 100 about one second from the same rank; gaps that, with good coaching, she could easily bridge. In every sense Palmer is the real deal; quite capable of winning the 50 and the 100 for New Zealand at the London Olympic Games. There was just one problem, and it was fatal. She swam in Cameron’s Millennium program. Ingram, the world’s best backstroke swimmer has the same terminal condition.

My discussion with Palmer’s father clearly shows that in spite of his reluctance to be drawn or provide detailed comment, there is substance to the poolside gossip. His concern for Hayley is obvious. It is equally understandable that there is very little detail available from him at the moment. Swimwatch will be watching these developments closely over the coming weeks. It seems pretty clear though that all is not well at Swimming New Zealand’s Millennium Institute. The cracks are beginning to show. After all, this is not any old club program where some turnover is expected. This program is made up of selected swimmers who are paid well to be members. When, like Moss Burmester, they start to express open discontent there is a problem. If they begin to leave, you can bet the house most of the others would get out too if only they had the courage or could afford to run the financial risk. It will be interesting to observe the spin from the Cameron empire as they scramble to save face over the departure of brilliant swimmers and Commonwealth medalists.

What is absolutely unacceptable in all this is the dictatorial control exercised by Cameron. Why should any swimmer’s career, income and life be dominated by this disagreeable Australian? It is certainly not a necessary component of winning an Olympic swimming race. Cameron is not the sole repository of swimming wisdom. In fact if her letters from New Delhi and television commentary are anything to go by her knowledge of modern swimming has some serious flaws. No one and certainly not Jan Cameron should be in a position to kneecap a swimmer’s career because they decide Cameron’s way is not for them. How on earth did Phelps and Lochte win all those medals without being told how to live their lives by Jan Cameron? Seriously, ask the question. Would Phelps and Lochte have won all those medals if they had swum at the Millennium Institute? I don’t think so. Cameron’s results demonstrate that she is not all that good at this game. If Millennium swimmers decide to find someone who does understand the elite swimming trade, New Zealand should financially support their decision and wish them God speed. My guess is that adult swimmers may be finding that being bought body and soul by the Cameron gang is not worth the cost of abandoning their Olympic dream. That is something to admire. That is something that could well earn its reward in the East End of London.

Much of Cameron’s behavior reminds me of a story I read about Mohammed Ali and an experience I had at a pool in Florida.

Ali was flying into Miami Airport. He arranged with the airport authorities to have his chauffeur park the car in a restricted area so he could avoid the crowds that gathered whenever he appeared. The chauffeur parked in the agreed zone and went in to collect Ali. When they came out a warden was giving Ali’s car a ticket. The chauffeur was incensed and started to argue with the warden. The warden yelled back, that just because Ali was the world boxing champion he couldn’t leave his car where he wanted. He was no better than anyone else. Ali gently put his hand on the chauffeur’s shoulder and said, “Just take the ticket. It’s more important to him that it is to us.”

Shortly after Rhi Jeffrey won her Olympic gold medal she came to the pool where I was the coach to begin training. She was talking to me when the Pool Manager, Joe McNeally, came out of his office and demanded a pool entry fee. I explained that Rhi was joining the swim team and would be paying training fees which included her pool entry.

“Has she paid her training fees today?” he demanded.

“She’s only been here five minutes.” I said.

“Well just because she’s an Olympic Champion she is no better than anyone else,” he screamed.

Rhi was about to get mad. I said to her, “Don’t worry I’ll pay the four dollars. It’s more important to him that it is to us.”

Whenever New Zealand swimmers get any good or pass twenty years of age Cameron can’t help exercising her authority by putting them down; by making the point that they are no better than anyone else. For years there has been a pattern of irrational control. You can’t have a drink. You can’t pass go without Cameron’s approval. The irony is, it doesn’t work. Have you ever noticed how many Cameron led teams have discipline problems? There is even a tree outside the Kiwi Paka motel in Rotorua called the “Jan Tree”. It’s still there. I’m told it got its name because Cameron hid behind it trying to catch swimmers sneaking into town. Goodness knows if it has any basis in truth, but all myths begin with at least the belief that they could be true, and swimmers believed this. Does that sounds like a trusting relationship? The message Lydiard preached above all others; above running the Waitakeres; above anaerobic sets; above everything was, “always trust your athlete.” Not a concept high in the Cameron coaching manual.

Eventually swimmers get fed up with all her control and retire or try to succeed somewhere else. Cameron cuts off the “dissident’s” funding and moves on to the next “promising” sixteen year old. The cycle of selling her honey tomorrow begins all over again.

“Well Cameron in this case it does matter. You see, it is more important to us than it is to you.”

By David

The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre

Observe degree, priority and place,

Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,

Office and custom, in all line of order.

Shakespeare knew what was right. I suppose he would not have known that his reference to “centre” would one day be taken to mean the West Wave Aquatic Centre in New Zealand. However he was clearly a man who understood that the universe had a natural order that was best not tampered with. For this reason, regular Swimwatch readers may recall my dismay when I returned to New Zealand and discovered that at Auckland Swimming events our club had been moved from its traditional prime location to some far corner of our home pool. Not much respect for degree, priority and place in all that, I thought. However, today at the Auckland Junior Championships natural order was restored and West Auckland Aquatics assumed its rightful premier position. I am told that in the future we may have to share this spot. But for today all is well; “office and custom, in line of order.”

After the first day’s competition I stayed on to witness the Grand Final of the Auckland Swimming League. What was this new form of swimming like? Did it have something to add to the sport in New Zealand?

But before I consider the League I should discuss a story told to me by two independent competitors and a parent at the Swimming League event. Is it true that the relationship between the New Zealand Head Coach Mark Regan and the General Manager Performance and Pathways, Jan Cameron has deteriorated to such an extent that Regan has already handed in his notice or is about to resign? Were relations between the pair so poor in New Delhi that they could barely communicate? Is Regan going home to Australia for Christmas and not coming back? Is there a possibility that a rift between Regan and Cameron is being covered up while SNZ conclude discussions with SPARC on future funding? Does SNZ consider Regan disposable as it grooms the Millennium Institute for Cameron’s son, Scott Cameron, to assume the top job? If none of these things are true it would do SNZ well to specifically deny and refute each point. It is not good to have that sort of tittle-tattle running around an Auckland swimming pool. Swimming New Zealand cannot possibly want the “Herald on Sunday” to start digging into all this sort of stuff.

If any or all of these tales are true the Board of Swimming New Zealand needs to consider how the affair has been handled. Certainly the suggestion that SPARC is being misled would be most serious for the future of every swimmer involved in the sport. If Regan has resigned it will have a serious effect on the prospects of New Zealand swimmers at the London Olympic Games. Time is short. Two years and another four million dollars will go by very quickly. The position of Swimwatch is only to convey what is being said around the pool in order to allow those responsible to clarify exactly what is going on in the New Zealand High Performance Program. SNZ would do well to remember who is paying for this program.

And so, what did I think of the final of the Auckland Swimming League? There was a huge amount to admire. The atmosphere was great. There was a good crowd. The music was good and loud and exciting. The event attracted a large cross section of new and retired swimmers. The commentary was well informed. The meet was clearly fun. It came very close to merging the excitement of a Don King boxing promotion into a swimming pool setting. A couple of cheer leaders and I’d have felt right back at home in Florida watching the Dolphins and the Jets. The final of the Auckland Swimming League was unquestionably good for swimming.

For the purist however the League Final needed something extra to make it an unqualified success. It had all the hype of a Don King promotion; hype that Don King would have understood. It had an undercard of performance that was probably better than some of the undercards on a King promotion. What the League Final did not have and King always did, was an Ali and a Foreman, two of the world’s best, beating the hell out of each other. The core of a King event was world class. At its heart the core of the Auckland League was mediocre swimming. To be really successful that amount of excitement needs a quality, quality core. A few old Olympians and some out of shape Commonwealth swimmers did not provide enough substance. If the icing is that elaborate, the cake has to taste good as well.

Perhaps the money on offer ($20,000) will improve the quality of future events. However in the League format I think there needs to be a real championship at stake. That would give the new glamour and excitement and participation, the legitimacy of tradition and “real” competition.

It was an interesting evening. And tomorrow we go back to day two of the Auckland Junior Championships and yes our chairs will still be in their rightful spot; observing degree, priority and place.