GOVT LEAD SOUGHT "POOR RELATION IN SPORT’

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32778, 1 December 1971, Page 18

GOVT LEAD SOUGHT "POOR RELATION IN SPORT’

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND. The New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association’s decision not to employ a fulltime professional coach was severely criticised yesterday by Mr S. Johnson, coach with the athletics team at last year’s Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.

The national association turned down the proposal to employ a professional coach at its annual meeting in Wellington last Friday because of finance.

“New Zealand is gradually becoming one of the most underdeveloped sporting countries in the world,” Mr Johnson said yesterday. “We are a poor relation in sport.

“Even England now realises the value of sport to the community. There are eight full-time professional athletics coaches in England alone and 50 per cent of their wages are paid by the education authorities and 50 per cent by the Government. "This year, the Govern, ment put $700,000 into British sport as part of the buildup for next year’s Munich Olympics.

“This is the sort of thing our New Zealand sportsmen are up against. It’s a tragedy that the New Zealand Government appears to be so financially embarrassed that it can’t help sport. We would not have half the delinquents if we had more people to guide the youngsters into worth-while pursuits.