Vigour Sought In Handling Swimming

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30485, 6 July 1964, Page 13

Vigour Sought In Handling Swimming

Swimming centres that did not pull their weight would be left behind and individuals who did not do their share in the work of a centre should he jettisoned, said the chairman of the council of the New Zealand . Amateur Swimming Association (Mr A. J.. Donaldson) at the national conference of centre secretaries in Christchurch on Saturday. In his hard-hitting, off-the-cuff address, Mr. Donaldson also hinted at a possible reorganisation of centres on a more equitable and realistic basis, particularly from a geographical point of view. Mr Donaldson said the council was faced with two courses of action: slowing down to the pace of the most tardy centres and so losing its impetus or “bulldozing on” and letting those centres that were not pulling their weight fall by the wayside. The council firmly believed it was on the right track and it was not prepared to interrupt its progress, because of centres that were lagging behind. Mr Donaldson said there was no place in centre administration for officials who did not undertake a fair share of the work. “If some people are not pulling their weight in the centre get rid of them,” he counselled. “Don’t put them there just because they have had years of service.” All administrators In the sport should adopt a realistic attitude and be prepared to

step down in favour of younger people when they felt they had lost their drive, he added. Sought Equality There were 16 swimming centres In the country all demanding the same rights and privileges, said Mr Donaldson. But they ranged in size from Auckland, with more than 3000 members, to Ashburton, with just over 300. However, the council had not heard from Ashburton for some time and was' unaware of happenings in Taranaki because it could not get a reply from that centre. He suggested that Taranaki might have to lose its identity and be merged with Wanganui. Groupings Speaking of more realistic groupings, Mr Donaldson said Oamaru was within the Otago centre’s boundaries but was separated from Dunedin by 75, miles of hilly country, whereas only 50 miles to the north was Timaru, headquarters of the South Canterbury centre. Timaru, in turn, was only 100 miles from Christchurch, the hub of the Canterbury centre, yet between the two was the Ashburton centre.

Those types of balances, he observed, were completely out of proportion.