Olympic gold medallist Arthur Parkin has been removed as a Legend of Northland Sport after he was convicted last month of child sex abuse.
Olympic gold medallist Arthur Parkin has been removed as a Legend of Northland Sport after he was convicted last month of child sex abuse.
Olympic gold medallist Arthur Parkin has been removed as a Northland Legend of Sport after he was found guilty of two of five charges of indecent assault on girls.
The former hockey player was inducted into the Northland Legends of Sport in 2016 after competing at four Olympic Games, winninga gold medal with the men's hockey team in Montreal in 1976.
Parkin faced five charges of indecently assaulting young girls in Whangarei, Auckland and Coromandel between 1975-83. Last month, 11 of the 12 jurors found him guilty of two charges related to the second of three complainants in the Auckland District Court. The jury decided unanimously he was not guilty on the three other charges.
''A unanimous decision was made to remove Arthur Parkin as a Legend of Northland Sport. It is important to us that you respect that Sport Northland does not have any further comment to make on this, including Brent Eastwood as chief executive,'' board chairman Chris Biddles said.
When the charges against Parkin were made public, the Sport Northland board met to discuss whether he would remain on the Legends of Sport list. The discussion there was around presuming innocence until proven guilty and making the decision once the board knew the outcome of the case.
The board also wanted to check with Hockey New Zealand about what it was doing as Parkin was a life member of the organisation.
Hockey NZ said it is taking the matter extremely seriously. The Hockey NZ Board will meet on March 16, and one of the items on the agenda is Parkin's conviction and his life member status.
"While former New Zealand international Arthur Parkin has played a large role in the sport of hockey as a player, coach and administrator, the actions for which he has been found guilty are completely unacceptable to a sport which considers the safety of its young people to be paramount,'' Hockey NZ said in a statement to the Northern Advocate.
Parkin also entered the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 for his achievements but no one is available from the Hall of Fame until Thursday to discuss if it is considering removing Parkin.
