By David

What is going to replace the current Board? There is no point in overturning the regime in power unless there is a plan for what comes next. First of all though, the revolution has to be successfully concluded. To do that the approaching Annual General Meeting has to be totally ineffective. Participating in the Annual Meeting with the current Board only makes the Coalition complicit in their existence. Approving their budget, passing their remits, progressing their Project Vanguard and voting for two new Board members acknowledges and endorses their right to exist.

It is messy, but the 2011 Annual General Meeting has to fail. Either the Regions just don’t turn up and the meeting falls over for a lack of a quorum or the Coalition votes down every measure proposed. Nothing gets passed. This Board has forfeited the right to govern. This Annual General Meeting must clearly demonstrate the member’s endorsement of that point.

Then a Special General Meeting should to be called to elect a new Board. Six members get elected and two are appointed. The Special General Meeting has to make sure there is a discernable change. The new Board has to be a new broom. It cannot be a different eight members of the old guard. That won’t change anything. For example I would not have David Jack, Neville Sutton or Brett Naylor anywhere near a new Board. They may not be responsible for the current Board’s mistakes but they have a history of involvement in the structural shambles we have on our hands today. There are a dozen other individuals like them – who worshipped Jan Cameron, who appointed Mike Byrne and created the environment that has ruined swimming in New Zealand.

Here are the eight souls I’d have on the new Board. My vote is probably the last thing any of them would want. However I did vote for Margret Thatcher and illegally contributed $100 to Obama’s election campaign. I also voted for Helen Clarke at one election and plan to give John Key my vote in this one. So, there have been a few winners in my past.

Bronwen Radford for President. The public face of the revolution has to lead it into power. She has shown courage, tenacity, honesty and endurance. She has the stuff leaders are made of. One day Swimming New Zealand should sell t-shirts with her face printed on the front.

Maria Clarke for Vice President. Clarke is a sports lawyer and member of the New Zealand Olympic Committee. She’s as sharp as a tack and has an IQ that’s better than most of us. She would make sure some of the tricky deals that the Coulter gang specialize in, never happen again. She’d also be well suited for keeping Kerry McDonald in line.

Bill Garlick for Board member. Garlick is an ex-President of the New Zealand Olympic Committee. He is a visionary. That quality may have got him into some trouble in the past but would be well valued on a new Board. New ideas would not be in short supply with Garlick around.

Dick Quax for Board member. Quax is an Auckland Super City councillor, a 5000 meters track world record holder and an Olympic Silver medallist, also in the 5000 meters. He too is as sharp as a tack. He understands sport. He knows what works. He has seen the top of the sporting tree and knows what you need to do to get there.

Mark Weldon for Board member. Weldon was one of New Zealand’s best swimmers and is now hugely successful in business. He is an interesting and rare blend of deep swimming knowledge and commercial acumen. I don’t know him personally but he seems to be a person you’d call a progressive; a quality this Board will need.

Nigel Soper for Board member. Soper is the Chairman of Southland Swimming. Southland Swimming is probably the most financially independent of all the New Zealand swimming Regions. Soper’s knowledge of the qualities required to achieve that status is important if SNZ is to move away from its current state of SPARC welfare dependency. Oh, and Soper also works for the Alliance Meat Company. For an ex-Borthwick employee like me that’s a huge plus.

Sir Michael Fay for Board member. I think there is merit in having a captain of New Zealand industry on the Board. Other contenders would be John Hart, Sir Stephen Tindall, John Banks and Geoff Ross. Sir Michael gets my vote because of his sporting credentials in beginning the dynasty of New Zealand’s America’s Cup competition but also his family’s deep involvement in the sport of swimming.

Wayne Rollinson for Board member. Rollinson is the Chairman of Swimming Canterbury. Equally compelling arguments could be made for Jim Swanson and Suzanne Speer from Auckland. I’d go for Rollinson because he adds a South Island perspective to the Board and he works for Silver Fern Farms – another freezing works veteran (only joking).

So there is the Board I think would move New Zealand Swimming forward. I guess the important point of all this is not the specific names. It is vital to recognize that there are many good people in New Zealand who are far better equipped to lead, than those who are failing us just now. It is time for a fresh start. Fortunately there are many fine New Zealanders who can provide the quality of management and direction this sport craves.

There are also two executive positions that need to be filled; a CEO to replace Mike Byrne and a Coaching Facilitator to replace Jan Cameron. There are four people I think would do a great job of being the sport’s new CEO – John Munro, Brian Palmer, Marisa Carter and Sarah Ulmer. Any one of them would be light years better than what we’ve got now. All of them will cost a lot of money – but isn’t that great. And finally – someone to replace the “irreplaceable” Jan Cameron. Well, that’s the easiest replacement of the lot. Whatever it cost, I’d get Mark Schubert down here. He is the ex-USA Swimming Head Coach. His swimmers have won more medals than most of us have had hot dinners. One fact in all this is guaranteed – Mark Schubert would never bring a New Zealand team home from an Olympic Games empty handed – not ever. Over the next four years he would weld every coach in New Zealand into a genuine “one team”. Schubert would help New Zealand’s coaches find another Danyon Loader. In fact being Schubert he’d probably help us find several Olympic winners – for that’s what winning coaches do.