"I explained the circumstances to Danyon and said it was better if he wasn't at that meeting and that we could meet later. We've since done that on Friday afternoon and explored a few issues.
"Danyon's interests were entirely legitimate but I felt it was best to focus on the regions so they could have their say. It was not a forum where he'd have had a decent opportunity. Hopefully Swimming New Zealand can use him effectively in the future to tap into his knowledge on high performance swimming in particular."
The Herald on Sunday attempted to contact Loader through his employer, the New Zealand Olympic Committee, but was told he would not comment on the issue.
The incident is the latest in a series of recent public relations setbacks for Swimming New Zealand, highlighted by the Ineson report in June which exposed a lack of organisational and high performance leadership. Ultimately that threatens the sport's performance at its pinnacle event, the Olympic Games next year, as well as future Sparc funding.
A resolution is yet to be found in the regions' desire to have the current board resign and stand for re-election, thus earning a mandate to run the sport again. The board has been advised not to resign, courtesy of advice from McDonald and Cull, because it could further threaten swimming's Sparc funding. That in turn raises questions about how much Sparc is interfering in the sport's sovereignty to sort out problems independently.
With the regions remaining resolute in their demands for change they could hold a special general meeting soon to advance the issue; the other solution is to debate it further at the annual general meeting on September 25 in Wellington.
