Sir Ronald warns hockey body of Olympic standards

Press, 20 November 1982, Page 64

Sir Ronald warns hockey body of Olympic standards

To make best use of its limited funds the New Zealand Hockey Association will have to consider carefully its future international programme, the president (Mr M. R. Good) told the annual meeting yesterday. New Zealand could not run away from international hockey, said Mr Good. If it did, the sport would die. But by careful planning of international competition, costs could be kept to a minimum. Mr Good added that he was concerned that the Government was not providing more finance to encourage sports to promote themselv.es and thus involve New Zealanders in a worthwhile pursuit. . “I believe the allocation in Ministry of Recreation and Sports grants now is' no greater than it was when the ministry was first established in 1973.” “It became evident to me at the Munich Olympics in 1972 that . countries were pouring money into sport not just for the prestige of winning gold medals, but also as a means of building the character of young people." “The Government in New Zealand has got to be acquainted with that fact, and convinced that an increase in sports funds would be well spent.” Sir Ronald Scott, a guest

speaker at the meeting, touched on the same subject. He is a member of the New Zealand Sports Foundation and outlined the problems the foundation faces providing funds for the development of elite New Zealand athletes. “We want competitors to feel, secure. They are going to continue to get assistance from the foundation, but without a reliable source ol funds, we can’t be reliable in our grants." “At the moment we have to queue up for funds from the lottery board like every other organisation, or get them from the private sector. If we had lotto or some other means of raising money we could provide more assistance.”. r “The problem is we don’t have enough political clout,” said Sir Ronald. There-was a word of warning from him for the hockey association. Because of the shortage of funds, Sir Ronald said, strict standards would be applied for assistance for the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles and that team sports would have to achieve high rankings to qualify for assistance. “If a team is ranked eighth or ninth in the world its prospects of winning a medal cannot be considered great. I know you will cite Montreal

in 1976 as a reason against these standards. But if you can get an international ranking of sixth or better before 1984 we should be able to assist your players," said Sir Ronald, in an obvious reference to the ranking New Zealand has to achieve to qualify for Sports Foundation support. New Zealand will get the chance to improve its ranking at the 10-nation international tournament in Melbourne next month. In his address to the meeting, the retiring chairman of the management committee, Mr D. L. Coulter hinted that amalgamation' between the men’s and women’s associations might not be far off. “The benefits to the sport would be tremendous. We have already seen them through the combined national coaching scheme. It might raise the hackles of some of the diehards, both men and women, but it would be a worthwhile move. In some areas the women are better organised than the men,” said Mr Coulter. Mr Bill D’Eath, of Taranaki, was awarded the Pakistan Trophy at the meeting. It is presented to the administrator considered to have done most for hockey during the year, and is a national award.