Dangerous cycle precedent

Press, 5 December 1978, Page 34

Dangerous cycle precedent

By

RAY CAIRNS

The New Zealand Amateur ■ Cycling Association could | lose credibility after a con-1 tentious vote this week. • The resignation of the national director of coaching, Max Vertongen, became effective last Thursday, but the association’s council has created the extremely dangerous precedent of hiring Vertongen, at a cost of $250, to coach the national track team for its internal tour and series with Australia during January. The decision came from a recommendation of the council’s executive, but was only approved by a 9-7 vote by the council. It was not that councillors did not approve of the worth of Vertongen — on the contrary — so much as the ethics of paying the former professional now back in the ranks.

For while Vertongen is receiving that fee, the other three officials —Murray Las

loli (manager), Ross Pepper i (assistant coach) and Guy b Brady (mechanic) — will get only their very basic ex-1 penses. The cycling council was performing its duty in its concern at the coaching appointment, for the three nominations as assistant coaches — Pepper, Ron Cheately and Gavin Neale — are relatively inexperienced in the demands of this particular appointment. But Auckland, Southland and Canterbury delegates, particularly, pointed out the dangers of hiring Vertongen. What was more surprising was that their suggestions, hinted at or spoken, of a “concealed” fee for Vertongen, in the form of a retirement gift or some-such, were not accepted. Instead, in rather typical fashion, the council blundered on with all the finesse of a rogue i elephant and made the point 'that it is prepared to pay Isome favoured sons, not. all.

i Vertongen’s position was quite clear. According to the national president, Mr W. J. [Main, the man who pushed his case, Vertongen could not afford to do the job on a voluntary basis. Mr Main also made the point — valid, undoubtedly — that “there could be some riders going into the tour with a negative attitude without Max. It is clear he is the best man for the job.” It is now no secret that one of Vertongen’s reasons for resigning was his dissatisfaction with the selection system, and bis lack of direct "involvement. It is also known that a specific cause of complant was the unsuitability of the ■ Canterbury sprinter and New Zealand champion, Ray Knight, for the six-day , madisbn in New Caledonia. Ironically, Knight left New i Zealand on Thursday, the : day Vertongen ceased employment by the ’ N.Z.A.C.A. Knight’s selection came

under scrutiny at the meeting, with good reason. For while he is clearly the best sprinter in the country — he proved as much last season and could well do so again in March, when fully fit at the national championships — Knight could never be considered a first-choice madison rider. His strength is sharp speed over a short distance, not endurance, and his selection begs the question of whether it was one of conscience. The national selectors won no applause when they omitted Knight from their nominations for the Edmonton Commonwealth Games. They could have been viewed as offering some compensation when Knight was sent to Tahiti in October. But to choose him again for an event that he does not particularly like, let alone perform in with distinction, suggests an indecent desire to rectify past mistakes, only to perform 'another.