Rugby the big winner as Sparc grants go to rich sports

The head of the Government's sports funding agency says rugby deserves its place as one of the elite sports picked to share a $21.1 million pot, even though it is New Zealand's richest sport.

Sport and Recreation NZ (Sparc) chief executive Nick Hill said rugby had to be one of the big winners in the high-performance strategy review issued yesterday.

Rugby, cricket, netball and six Olympic sports are selected for significant support until 2012.

They will be eligible for a portion of up to 70 per cent - $23.1 million - of Sparc's $33 million assistance budget.

Sparc has set goals of New Zealand being world champions in rugby, netball and cricket, and winning 10 or more medals at the London Olympics in 2012.

Mr Hill said rugby could not be left out, and the days of an egalitarian philosophy where every sport got its chunk of money as of right were gone.

"You can't think about New Zealand success internationally without thinking of rugby as part of that," he said.

Mr Hill doubted rugby's money would go to its high-performance programme.

It was more likely to go towards sports science, joint research projects which would also help other sports and support strategies.

If it was a case of money being thrown at rugby's high-performance programme he could understand sports that had missed out being grumpy, Mr Hill said.

"But it's not. It's about expertise and knowledge and there are benefits from high-performance experiences that have value in the All Black setup and vice versa."

The six Olympic sports singled out for top-level support are athletics, cycling, rowing, sailing, swimming and triathlon.

Another 5 per cent of the high-performance investment is for athletes among the top 16 in the world in Olympic sports and the top eight in non-Olympic sports.

Other sports will make competing bids for the rest of the money.

Mr Hill said the goals of rugby, cricket and netball were straightforward.

"Ten Olympic medals is challenging, but we think it's achievable in London. And if that's the goal, what do we need to do?"

New Zealand's Commonwealth Games total of 31 medals in Melbourne this year - 15 short of Sparc's goal - had sharpened the focus on getting funding right.


Sports that missed out on top-tier ranking expressed disappointment and resignation yesterday.

The Black Sox are not among the elite despite winning three softball world championships since 1996.

"You could say what more is wanted in terms of the results?" said Softball NZ chief executive Dale Eager.

"But I can't see any sense on focusing on asking what we need to do."

New Zealand Hockey Federation chief executive Ramesh Patel said his sport's omission from the top nine was "quite interesting" but understandable.

"We would like to have been a targeted sport, but can understand as there has been some disappointment about not winning medals.

"We believe hockey has performed over a number of years and has stayed in our top echelon of sports."


SPORT'S $33M

Winners:

Rugby, cricket, netball, athletics, cycling, rowing, sailing, swimming and triathlon.

Losers:

Softball, hockey, rugby league, shooting, boxing, basketball.


- Additional reporting by James Ihaka