Quote, “Let’s not forget that every Sophie Pascoe, Lewis Clareburt and Erika Fairweather has emerged from a local swimming club programme with an attendant community of care and three different coaches with innovation and fire in their bellies.”

The deception, the deceit, the dishonesty, the double-dealing and naked corruption that goes on in life is truly stunning. Swimming New Zealand (SNZ), stand up and take a bow.

Excuse my frustration. Please understand that for 25 years I pushed and pleaded with SNZ to understand that “every Sophie Pascoe, Lewis Clareburt and Erika Fairweather has emerged from a local swimming club programme with an attendant community of care and three different coaches with innovation and fire in their bellies.” I begged Bruce Cotterill to recognise that his obsession with centralised training flew in the face of that very principle. And what did I get in return. I got insults. I was refused entry to National Championships. My support for decentralised training was negatively torn apart in several SNZ Annual Reports. For example, the President of SNZ said this about me in his 2015 Annual Report.

“The credibility the opinions of these bloggers deserve is clear; absolutely none.”

For saying over and over again exactly what Dave Gerrard has said in the 2021 Annual Report I was informed I had absolutely no credibility. I wonder if Brent Layton and Bruce Cotterill have the same view of Dave Gerrard’s credibility. They are the ones who have changed – not me.

The problem with that sort of rank dishonesty is that it undermines SNZ’s credibility. It hurts an honourable sport. One minute Layton, Cotterill and Gerrard are all pumped up about their wonderful new high-performance coach and his (because it always was a male) pool of future Olympic stars. One minute they are tearing me apart for suggesting their pool of dreams is fatally flawed. Then they turn around and without the slightest hesitation or embarrassment embrace all that they have denied for 25 years. Bloody unbelievable.

I’m no great religious zealot. However, a verse in 1Corrintheans 13-12 does come to mind. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Well now, face to face, we know. The three of them were wrong and must accept responsibility for the $26million they spent chasing a fool’s errand. Their legacy is one of enormous harm. For Gerrard to turn around, like some carpet-bagger salesman, and sell that which SNZ opposed for so long is stunning hypocrisy. The truth would benefit his legacy. Although perhaps the lie is more accurate.

When SNZ abandoned the centralised training program, in my opinion, Bruce Cotterill was no more honest than Dave Gerrard. Cotterill blamed the failure and the lost $26million on HPSNZ. No suggestion that the policy was wrong. In 2017 he said this.

“We have also suffered a significant reduction in funding from High Performance Sport NZ which in turn led to the disestablishment of two senior roles within the High Performance team.”

No mention of his barren policy. No mention of those whose advice he had ignored. No mention of the swimmers left high and dry. No mention of those who lost their careers believing SNZ’s promises. No mention of the wasted millions. Just two staff members no longer employed. I don’t know what you think but I doubt that could be considered honest reporting to the membership. It is a blight on the Regions that no one at the AGM asked Cotterill and Gerrard to explain the loss of swimming lives and member’s money.  

Even a year later Cotterill’s explanation got no better. In 2018 he told the members this.

“As we started to recover from the changes in the High Performance team, brought on by the reduction in funding from High Performance Sport in late 2016 and set about implementing the new High Performance strategy that was approved by the board in late 2017.”

That’s the thing with people like Cotterill. It is always someone else’s fault. I can’t help but think the members of SNZ witnessed an example of mushroom management at its best. Through 2016 and 2017, “keep them in the dark and feed them shit” was the way to go. Cotterill proved to be an expert at growing fungi. Just as sadly the SNZ regions were a silent audience.

Three years later, the fungi had grown, the crop had been picked, the shit had been put away, and a fresh mushroom stew was about to be served. And Gerrard comes along and says the feast was SNZ’s plan all along. Well excuse me for thinking the three stooges may have been on the same diet as the mushrooms. It sure looks that way.