Bowlers urged for support

Bowls players have been asked to ring in and support Bowls New Zealand chief executive Kerry Clark on a sports talkback radio show today.

It comes after the organisation's perceived failure to respond quickly to the decision the New Zealand men's four were involved in match-fixing at the Asia-Pacific Games in Malaysia last year.

The punishments for the quartet deemed guilty are due next month.

The Herald on Sunday was forwarded an email, entitled "CEO on Deaker ... can u help?" sent out by Vince Roper, the bowls development officer for the region encompassing Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Buller and West Coast. The email refers to the fact Bowls NZ chief executive Kerry Clark will be appearing today from 2pm on the radio show Deaker on Sunday>/i>, hosted by veteran sports broadcaster Murray Deaker.

Roper attempted to drum up support from bowlers in his region. The email states: "As someone more in line with the thinking of Bowls NZ, and from a club which will have already benefited from many of these initiatives, you may wish to listen in to Deaker this Sunday and ring in and support Kerry with practical examples of some of the benefits from the positive changes Bowls NZ has been implementing.

"You will no doubt be aware Bowls NZ has been getting a bit of adverse air time from talkback radio regarding the outcome of the judicial hearing against the Black Jacks fours team. Up to this point, only one side (and their supporters) have been putting forward their view on how poorly Bowls NZ is being managed."

It is understood Clark will not be discussing the misconduct case.

The email states that instead he "will be addressing such things as the organisation's values, high performance programme and related side-issues that may have been raised in recent times". It remains to be seen how the usually forthright Deaker will react to attempts to colour the tone of callers to the programme.

Sources contacted by this newspaper described the email as contributing to a "culture of fear", forcing individuals to toe the party line.

"The people running it [Bowls NZ] are stupid," one said.

"It's an attempt at manipulation. It's disappointing because everyone is entitled to freedom of speech."