Editorial: Coach decision far from sporting

Coach Andrew McKay says his application was initially declined by the organisers because he was non-Maori. Photo / Stephen Parker

This Waitangi Day will see great celebration across the city, region and country. But one small group of Ngati Whakaue might not be so happy.

Rotorua basketball coach Andrew McKay told the Rotorua Daily Post his team which won the under-15 division at last year's tournament in Rotorua were not allowed to compete this year.

He said his application to enter the team in the under-17 grade for this week's competition was initially declined by the organisers because he was non-Maori.

Organisers told us non-Maori personnel were excluded because they wanted to encourage more Maori into coaching and refereeing positions.

But Mr McKay said the clause that all coaching and management personnel must whakapapa to an iwi was added to the online entry forms after he had applied last October.

Regardless, a second application was lodged naming a different team coach, Richard Wharerahi - Ngati Whakaue, like the girls.

But again the team were denied entry to the tournament as the organisers believed it was a front for the original applicant and Mr Wharerahi had no basketball coaching or management experience. Mr Wharerahi told us he had been helping Mr McKay at basketball tournaments with Kaitao Middle School for three or four years.

It's admirable the organisers want to develop Maori coaching and refereeing, and it's not unreasonable for a Maori tournament to encourage Maori into those positions, but even if you agree with the ban on non-Maori, this team's situation would seem to require a bit of flexibility, especially given they were allowed to enter last year, that Mr McKay was willing to step back from the coaching role, and that at time of application the criteria didn't appear to say anything about non-Maori personnel.

To be fair, organisers did say the girls could enter and trial to play for Te Arawa.

But, as one team dad said, they wanted to be with Mr McKay and they wanted to play together. Some of them had been in the same teams for years.

Sport can be a wonderful way to bring people together, but sometimes a bit more sportsmanship wouldn't go astray.