Swimming: Trojan failed to comply says HBPB

Keith Bone, chairman of Swimming Hawke's Bay Poverty Bay. PHOTO/Duncan Brown

The ball has always been in the court of Trojan Swim Club to register in the region and the door is still open for it to comply with the regulations, according to Swimming Hawke's Bay Poverty Bay chairman Keith Bone.

Bone says, based on feedback, from stakeholders, the four clubs in the region, the board had declined Trojan's application last winter.

"Trojan were given a registration template, which came by the CEO of Swimming New Zealand, of checklist to tick all the boxes to resubmit to the board and they have failed to do that," he says of the former chief executive Christian Renford.

"A new committee member's come on board and he's got the bite of a rottweiler or pitbull and wants to sort it," Bone says of Trojan committee member Dion Van Zyl, who is driving the club's effort to register while its swimmers compete under the umbrella of Raumati Swim Club, of Wellington.

"You can't come in as a mad man and steamroll things because there's a process and it's a concentrated process so we take things seriously and look at all proposals," he says, adding the HBPB board will act in the majority interest of the members.

What surprises HBPB is the club not filling in the template so, until it does, HBPB isn't in a position to comment because it isn't a straightforward board decision but a consultative process.

"Dion, who has just been here for a while, has come on the committee and is now picking this up. He's very aggressive."

It is in Trojan's interest to resubmit the entire application form to provide details such as goals, strategies, financial ability and sustainability to the board before the Swimming NZ board checks them off as "key performance indicators".

"Trojan failed to submit the application to become a member club of Hawke's Bay Poverty Bay. Everything was put in the hands of the Trojan's administration but they failed to follow it through.

"All processes were done and, like I said, Dion's come to the club and he's on a mission."

It isn't the failure of HBPB but Trojan club to present the board with a full plan of intention to become an affiliate.

The board meetings, he says, aren't open to the public although its minutes are open to scrutiny after sittings.

"You can't just start up and say away we go as a club because it's a little more lengthy process than that."

Bone says his election as chairman means he has to take every HBPB member's consideration into the process.

"They [Trojan] are not being shut out. They have failed to return the application."

Because Trojan is registered as a subsidiary of a Wellington club, Raumati, he is unable to shed light on how many swimmers have switched stables to come under the tutelage of Trojan coach Daniel Bell.

Bone says he met Greendale Swimming Club coach Gary Knight on Monday to decipher his training sessions as part of his role to gauge how all clubs operate in the region.

"I believe Greendale are in a good position while they are waiting on the decision on the structural strengthening of their pool and they could be back there - I'm not saying next week - because they are waiting on a decision from the Ministry of Education.

"Fortunately they have lane space at Clive pools and they are chugging along really well."

Reacting to Van Zyl's implication that board members had vested interest in existing clubs and that it was in their interest to keep Trojan out, Bone says the mission statement and strategic plan of HBPB is to support and grow swimming in its catchment area.