Rowing chief fined $10,000 for fraud

Sports broadcaster Murray Deaker's words proved eerily prophetic after former Rowing New Zealand chief executive Craig Ross' spectacular fall from grace was completed in the Tauranga District Court yesterday.
Staying with Ross at his $2 million Mount Maunganui house in 2006 after speaking at a fundraising function, Deaker saw early warning signs that his host was in danger of succumbing to the pressures of his high-profile job.
"Back off and delegate," were the words Deaker wrote in a personal note to Ross, "you're trying to do too much."
Yesterday, Ross was convicted on nine charges of knowingly using forged documents to gain almost $370,000 worth of charitable grants for the organisation. He was fined $10,000 but defence lawyer Paul Mabey QC has confirmed to the Bay of Plenty Times the judgement will be appealed.
Deaker, who has had his own public battles with illness and alcoholism, was among the writers of a pile of references 52-year-old Ross carried into court yesterday, reading like a Who's Who of New Zealand sport.
Supporters included Olympic cycling gold medallist Sarah Ulmer, world champion rower Mahe Drysdale, double scullers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell and their coach Dick Tonks, former All Blacks No 8 Murray Mexted, Ross' former Bay of Plenty teammate and millionaire businessman Bruce Cameron, Beijing Olympics chef de mission Dave Currie and Barry Maister, head of the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
Ross wasn't commenting on his conviction publicly yesterday - through Mr Mabey he had been seeking a discharge without conviction on all counts. He now seems certain to lose his job as manager of Baypark stadium.
Drysdale, who leaves for the Beijing Olympics on Monday, said last night the sport was suffering without Ross.
"Craig's been a massive loss to the sport and, months after he resigned, he still hasn't been replaced. While we as athletes have got on and focused on Beijing, behind the scenes rowing has been lacking the leadership Craig provided."
Drysdale - ironically the only one of the Beijing-bound rowing team still in a Kiwi International Rowing Skiffs (KIRS) boat at the centre of the funding controversy - is adamant Ross shouldn't have faced charges.
"It was something we felt had been dealt with at the time and was behind us. There was no real need for it to come up again - he'd lost his job and for us that was a big enough loss."
It was a defiant Ross who last September was summoned home from the world championships in Germany to explain "funding irregularities" relating to his gaming trust applications for boats.
Ross, a highly regarded sports administrator, said at the time it was a "misunderstanding" and vowed to be back running Rowing New Zealand "within a week". Two weeks later he resigned the position.
Publicly humiliated, he spent much of summer hidden away in his house overlooking the 8th fairway of the Mount Maunganui golf course, gutted and embarrassed at his actions, although he believed by falling on his sword he had given the gaming trusts involved - New Zealand Community Trust, Pub Charity, Southern Trust and the Community First Foundation - as well as the Department of Internal Affairs, his pound of flesh.
Ross said at the time he was remorseful for his actions and the unwanted publicity they had brought rowing.
"It was a mistake," he said. "I took some shortcuts. I did what I did wrongly but in the interests, in my view, of the sport."
But the matter took another more serious twist in March when the police came knocking.
Many have lamented Ross' departure because of what he did for rowing in his four-year tenure, putting funding in place to help deliver 11 world titles, an Olympic gold and the hosting rights for the 2010 world championships at Karapiro.
Ross tripled rowing's total budget, although the struggle of doing two jobs - Rowing NZ chief executive and organising the 2010 world champs - was becoming increasingly stressful.
The former Bay of Plenty rugby player, who was chief executive at Sport Bay of Plenty for 11 years before an 18-month stint as acting chief executive of the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union, is a visionary who became bogged down in menial paperwork that would ultimately prove his undoing.