You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police … yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts; a little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.

It’s not difficult to guess that Winston Churchill wrote this thought. It is even less difficult to guess that he would despise the way sport is managed in New Zealand. The spread of Miskimmin’s empire, known as Sport New Zealand, is everywhere. Unlike Churchill almost no one in New Zealand sport dares speak against Miskimmin’s accumulation of power. In the world of New Zealand sport a challenge to Miskimmin’s authority is fatal. It is quite unbelievable the power that Miskimmin now wields – unbelievable and despicable. I am certain that the influence of Sport New Zealand is suffocating sport in my country. It will take time but eventually the damage will be perceived, the penny will drop, karma will prevail.

The penalties for dissent are many and varied. Question Miskimmin’s power, step out of line and punishment will be swift and terminal. Miskimmin’s gang do not bugger about. Their demand for obedience is absolute. You may be interested in some examples.

1. Sport New Zealand had two hired guns that attended Swimming New Zealand Board meetings. Do readers of Swimwatch remember the occasion when the Swimming New Zealand Board passed a motion not to the liking of Sport New Zealand? The threat was immediate. Change the vote or kiss goodbye to your funding. The vote was changed. And that is the truth.
2. In one of his first public meetings with Auckland swimming people, Miskimmin’s hired help, Chris Moller was famously quoted as saying, “In swimming far too many people are playing the man and not the ball.” A few weeks later the Minutes of a Swimming New Zealand Special Meeting reported that Moller “called for the Auckland Board and its Chief Executive to stand down, as they had requested Swimming New Zealand to do.” Not much ball in that. And that is the truth.
3. A year or so ago I hired the high profile legal firm, “Maria Clarke Lawyers” to comment on the legality of some goings-on at Swimming New Zealand. Maria Clarke is a Board member of the New Zealand Olympic Committee. During a telephone conversation she said to me, “The reality of sport in New Zealand is that there is no sport without SPARC.” (now Sport New Zealand) And that is the truth.
4. The New Zealand Olympic Committee is currently recruiting six new employees. Applications are being vetted and processed by an employee of Sport New Zealand. I would have thought the Olympic Committee would have been the final bastion of independence in New Zealand sport. It seems not. Even the Olympic Committee’s staff must first receive Miskimmin’s stamp of approval. And that is the truth.
5. I know of several employees of sporting organizations outside of competitive swimming who have been warned by Sport New Zealand toadies that if they want to keep their jobs they should not be seen talking to me. I am, they were told, nothing but trouble. Evidently the example they quote is my protest about the depth of the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre’s pool. But I was right. They changed the pool. On that occasion “the little mouse of thought” worked. And that is the truth.
6. I know of recruitment companies looking for staff to work in independent sporting organizations who have been told by Sport New Zealand not to proceed with the application of individuals who do not meet the approval of Miskimmin’s underlings. If you can control an organization’s key staff, you control the organization. And that is the truth.
7. Sport New Zealand played a prominent role in vetting and approving the recent key appointments made in Swimming New Zealand. If you can control an organization’s key staff, you control the organization. And that is the truth.
8. About a year ago the very prominent CEO of a national sport’s organization told me, “Make no mistake, David, Sport New Zealand is the real enemy.” And that is the truth.
9. I have been to two meeting recently where Miskimmin told his assembled admirers that, “We never get involved in the internal management of national sports bodies.” How on God’s good earth then does Miskimmin explain having two SPARC representatives attend every Swimming New Zealand Board Meeting? How does he explain that at every opportunity he’s out there telling the world what a great job his organization has done reforming swimming? How does he explain Sport New Zealand’s interference in the selection of Swimming New Zealand and Olympic Association staff? Does anyone believe that the frequent threat of withholding money unless certain Sport New Zealand policies are implemented, isn’t getting involved in the management of a sport? Of course it is. And that is the truth.
10. When the Coalition of Regions was on the brink of enforcing the private, regional ownership of swimming in New Zealand, Miskimmin realized the threat, saw the possibility that swimming was about to buck the trend of his organization’s control of New Zealand sport and called a full day meeting in Wellington. He won agreement to fund a Review of the sport and his appointee, Chris Moller, did the rest. The Coalition was defeated and Swimming New Zealand became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sport New Zealand. And that is the truth.

The problem is simply that Sport New Zealand is the government. And governments do not do elite sport well. Miskimmin is a bureaucrat. And bureaucrats do elite sport even worse. It is completely relevant that ever since the state got directly involved in swimming, New Zealand has failed to win a medal at the Olympic level. And the way things are going I see little prospect of that changing. Not even the prodigious talent of Lauren Boyle or the four years of the world’s best coaching she received in the USA can survive the management shambles she has endured back in New Zealand. Glen Snyders is an exception. He fled the country for Dave Salo’s private enterprise coaching program in Los Angeles. That might just work.

A few years ago the World Bank released a study that discussed corporate ownership. Their conclusion is just as relevant to sport in New Zealand. This is what the Bank said:

… private ownership makes a difference. Some state-owned enterprises have been efficient and well managed for some periods, but government ownership seldom permits sustained good performance for more than a few years. There is a higher probability of efficient performance in private enterprise.

In my view, just as Miskimmin is pertinent to swimming’s failure it is not a coincidence that New Zealand’s most successful athletes in track and field have never been associated with Miskimmin supplied coaching. Valerie Adams lives and is coached in Switzerland. Nick Willis lives and is coached in the United States. The fact that both live overseas is not relevant. The fact they are privately coached is hugely relevant. At least that’s what the World Bank thinks.