Financial worries for water polo

Press, 26 December 1986, Page 14

Financial worries for water polo

By

LORELEI MASON

If national sponsorship of water polo is not increased soon, it would appear that the future of the sport in New Zealand will be left in the hands of the very keen and the very rich.

This is the feeling of the Christchurch-based national men’s coach, Mike Godinet. He sees a lack of sufficient funding in the sport as the major obstacle to furthering the New Zealand team’s success at an international level.

“Once a player gets to a top national level he must travel overseas to gain the necessary experience. The big problem then arises, because players are forced to fund themselves — often totally,” he said.

“Many just can’t cope and, unfortunately for the sport, many talented players have to quit because they just can’t afford to keep going.” In March this year, frustration was at a maximum when the New Zealand team was accepted for the world water polo championships in Madrid, but had to withdraw because of a lack of funds about two months before the planned departure. The whole question of

funding is a controversial one, which has forced Christchurch administrators to think closely about their future.

“Water polo in this country is tied in with swimming and the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association. All the. local affiliation fees and available sponsorship money for both sports is given to the swimming association to dole out, and they, naturally, give their own sport financial preference,” said Mr Godinet. The Bank of New Zealand sponsors the N.Z.A.S.A., but a mere pittance is given to the sport of water polo (something like $3OOO annually) which is definitely not enough to boost the game much.

“The funding problem is one of the reasons why we will be very shortly considering moving away from the N.Z.A.S.A. and forming our own association. Polo players just are not being looked after properly under the present system.” At last year’s annual meeting, most polo administrators voted for the

idea of a breakaway as the prospect of absolute control was an appealing one. And at this year’s annual meeting further discussions on the topic could result in an even firmer stance.

As a spin-off to this problem, Mr Godinet explains, there are many junior and school teams, but numbers tend to fall away as players get older, as does, naturally, the high standard of top local competition. “On a younger level, the school water polo programme, both locally and nationally, is very healthy, but there is not much, around for players after this. For instance, in Canterbury there is only one senior A grade men’s team. Obviously it’s very hard to find motivation when there is a lack of tough local competition.” Internationally, New Zealand is ranked thirtieth out of about 58 countries which play the sport. “We are now equal in standard to the Australian state teams, which is a real compliment to our players, because not so long-ago, they used to

thrash us. “Once we can beat the Australian state sides consistently, we will get better coverage and support back home from the New Zealand public,” said Mr Godinet, who added that Australia’s fifth world ranking was mainly because of the immense funding and support given to players by the Canberra Institute of Sport. “It is quite an amazing complex, mind-boggling in fact. It cost $lOO million to set up, which was largely Government funded, and has a $l2 million budget each year. They have a water polo programme there which enables players to devote themselves fulltime to the sport. They are continually going overseas foi* experience -— how can they help but be better than us?” In comparison, it seems, New Zealand’s own coaching system is floundering. Up until a few years ago, Rothmans sponsored Bill Dyson to travel the country to coach and look after the welfare of the sport as a whole. “The New Zealand teams of the past ten years are products of that successful system.” However, according Mr

Godinet, ever since Rothmans withdrew its sponsorship a few years ago, coaching clinics and workshops have not been on a regular enough basis to have a truly worthwhile effect.

Amazingly, though, both national water polo titles are at present held by Christchurch teams in spite of the lack of top competition in Christchurch. Avon is the men’s champion and New Brighton the women’s titleholder. This reflects creditably on the motivation and dedication of the players involved. The national championships start in Lower Hutt today, and Mr Godinet is confident that the Avon men (the team he coaches) have a very good chance of retaining their title.

The New Brighton women’s team is also quietly confident of retaining its title. Its coach, Gillian. Smeith, admits that they have a “better team than last year.” She feels that the stiffest competition will come from two Auckland teams.

"There may be more people playing the game now, but in actual fact there is probably less indepth coaching.”