N.Z. ‘behind’ in sport ideas

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33034, 29 September 1972, Page 15

N.Z. ‘behind’ in sport ideas

New Zealand was a decade behind in its ideas on sport, the president of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association (Mr G. S. Brockett) said at the Canterbury Hockey Supporters’ Club “sportsman of the year” dinner. In the national health programme of most countries, particularly in Europe, sport

was an outlet and a binding factor in communities. In these countries they first studied their needs and then developed them, Mr Brockett sajd. Sport needed to be promoted in three ways in New Zealand, he said, and all on an equal basis. The three

areas were sport in schools, sport for all, and high-per-formance sport. "In West Germany 90 per cent of young people between 16 and 22 years of age belong to a sports club or are taking an active part in sport in the community,” Mr Brockett said.

High-performance sport was costly to achieve success, as the New Zealand rowers had shown and the public was a “hard taskmaster” when it came to judging athletes. “If you are second you are second. The only time you get an accolade is when you get a gold medal,” he said. Another speaker, Dr J. F. Mann, the principal of Christchurch Teachers’ College, was critical of Rugby and what he termed a lack of improvement in standard over the years. “The game seems to rely on brute strength and ignorance,” he said. He was also critical that many Rugby clubs encouraged young people to drink at clubrooms after matches. Drinking and alcohol was a problem in New Zealand, but when tied to sport it created an even bigger problem.