While I was writing this post the news came through that Tony Veitch had quit a new Sky TV show. Although he has gone I have decided to publish the story. The fact he was initially considered a suitable choice by Sky Sport has too many implications to ignore. Here then is the post before Veitch jumped or was pushed.

Thank God for journalists like Kylie Klein Nixon. Today I read her article about the news that sports broadcaster Tony Veitch, “who once broke his partner’s back during a fight, is returning to television with a “hard hitting” TV show in which he will deal with “controversial issues”.

Kylie Klein Nixon questions the appointment of Veitch. I have copied below pretty much the whole of her article. It’s so brilliantly written it would have been a crime to leave out any ironic detail.

“Tony Veitch, Matthew Ridge, Marc Ellis, Mike King, Martin Devlin of A Game of Two Halves. Veitchy is hoping to get the old gang back together.

We checked in with Sky in the afternoon, and at that time they confirmed it: Tony was the guy for them.

“What we want to do is bring out these controversial matters and get some different broadcasters and personalities and opinions out there to debate the big issues,” A Sky spokesperson told us.

The NewstalkZB and Radio Sport star, who once paid then partner Kristin Dunne-Powell $100,000 not to tell anyone that he threw her down a flight of stairs, will once again share the screen with Martin Devlin, and zero sense of irony.

Oh happy day, New Zealand!  Finally we can throw off this namby-pamby image of a country that gives a s… about everyone in it and really be ourselves.

I was just saying the other day that what this country needs right now is another TV show featuring a couple of middle-aged white men giving their “hard hitting” opinions hard hittingly and telling us what’s what. Hard.

Naturally, The Spinoff has already condemned the announcement like the bunch of goodie two-shoes they are.

As did Tess McClure writing for Vice, who says Veitch’s return to TV “reveals our astonishingly short memories for gendered violence“. But, like, what would she know? She probably hasn’t drunk enough Double Brown while scratching her nuts to understand sometimes s… happens. And then, there’s sports.

Sure, the fact Tony Veitch was back broadcasting publicly a few years after admitting his lost his temper and lashed out at Dunne-Powell, injuring her significantly. But to be fair, that in no way reflects how good sports – with or even without a ball – is.

As Sky Sports said when we asked them: “Tony has one of the very largest sports audiences in the country… We were looking for the leading sports broadcasters and Tony ticked that box. That’s what we were considering when we asked him to be on the show.

“We in no way support domestic violence in any form… What we want to stress is this show is about diverse opinions and strong opinions and Tony as a leading broadcaster fits that bill.”

See? It’s just sports and strong opinions about sports. They don’t even support domestic violence!  You can tell because they say so!

New Zealand’s choice of incredibly dodgy sports broadcasters is simply a reflection of our dearly held national belief that sports is, obviously, you know, way more important than any of that other stuff.

Like that whole… pony tail thing, and the pregnancy thing, and the I dunno other thing you bunch of non-Sky Sports subscription paying losers who care about women like to get worked up about. It’s not that big of a deal if a guy who once issued an entire apology for bashing someone without actually apologising to the person he bashed is welcomed back on the TV like a celebrity.

And as for the attention of more than 214,249 fans who follow good old Veitchy on Facebook, well, that’s just good honest Kiwis reflecting a good honest “harden up” attitude to victims of all genders. It’s not about sexism, silly.

Besides, the harder you are, the less being thrown down a flight of stairs hurts. Obviously. Ignoring past hurts actually helps you, you big babies.

At a time when the rest of the world is making a big fuss over clearing house and taking names, we’re showing our true colours, sticking to our guns, and moving a known offender who tried to hide his crime back into the penthouse where we clearly think he belongs.

Nice one, Kiwi.”

New Zealand needs journalists like Kylie Klein Nixon. It is a small country where those that get on the “wrong-side” of the establishment can quickly be ostracised. Believe me, it is most unpleasant. Nixon appears to be courageous enough to run that risk; prepared to stand up to Sky Sport and the boorish bad manners of Veitch and Devlin. And all power to her.

There is no way Veitch should be promoted. He does not need to rot in jail for his bad behaviour. But that is not the point. Should a person who has seriously assaulted his partner and has then paid a $100,000 cover-up be put in a position of lecturing New Zealand on ethical questions involved in sport? Of course not. We don’t ask Dean Wickliffe for advice on jewellery shopping or Bill Cosby on tips for a successful date or Bernie Madoff on principled banking practice. So many of the questions being addressed in the Sky Sport program will be judgement issues. What is right and what is wrong? And in that department Veitch has permanently forfeited the right to be heard. There is no statute of limitations. Veitch’s opinions are not something New Zealand will derive any benefit from or needs. He had certainly better not comment on any athlete I coach in the future. Nothing they could do is ever likely match the depravity of Veitch’s past. We can learn nothing from the Veitch source – except certainly how not to behave; what not to become.

And then there is the decision of Sky Sport; justified by a pathetic and amoral claim to audience size and diverse and strong opinions. “We in no way support domestic violence in any form” they said. Well let’s put that notion to rest straight away. Promoting a domestic violence offender into a position where his views are being widely disseminated around the country on television is clear acceptance of domestic violence. There are things that are more important than the number of customers with a Sky account; some things of greater value than money. The management of Sky Sport clearly doesn’t see it that way.

Faced with this decision by Sky Sport the appropriate reaction should be to close Sky accounts until Veitch goes. The example of Bill Reilly at Fox News in the United States has taught us that television bosses only move when there is financial pain. Let’s learn that lesson and give it to Sky in heaps.