Bowling: Bowlers asked to rat on Lawson

Three bowlers at the centre of a match-fixing storm were offered leniency in exchange for giving evidence against their skipper Gary Lawson.

The Weekend Herald understands that Bowls New Zealand took a divide-and-conquer approach to the judicial hearing, but the three bowlers - Shannon McIlroy, Shayne Sincock and Jamie Hill - declined the offer.

The four were found guilty of throwing the 17th end in a match against Thailand at last year's Asia Pacific championships in Kuala Lumpur. They have a week to make submissions regarding the penalties, which are expected to be announced early next month.

Tim Vogel, lawyer for McIlroy, Sincock and Hill (Lawson has his own legal counsel), said he could not comment, or even confirm, whether there had been plea bargaining.

However a source, who cannot be named, confirmed a plea bargain was offered.

Vogel did confirm that the bowlers' request for an open hearing was denied and that Bowls NZ chief executive Kerry Clark, who has battled with Lawson in the past, did not attend the hearing.

In a radio interview yesterday, Lawson said it was time to stop the secrecy and put all the facts into the public domain, including what punishment the national body is seeking.

Meanwhile, Sparc has defended its role in facilitating interviews between Kerry Clark and media outlets, the fruits of which are expected to be seen tomorrow.

Sparc media communications manager John Tulloch said the Government sports agency's interest was not in the national body's dispute with the four bowlers, but in the way their investment in bowls had been painted over the past week.

"I've been talking to Bowls New Zealand and Kerry because we've had a raft of media inquiries," Tulloch said.

"He [Clark] was very keen not to say anything pertaining to the disciplinary situation with the judicial committee but what prompted him to respond was that a whole bunch of wider issues were being aired, like membership figures, financial situation and strategic plan.

"They've liaised with me ... as part of that process I made some calls to a couple of the Sunday [newspapers]."

Tulloch said in no way could this be interpreted as Sparc taking sides in the misconduct allegations.

"Our investment judgment was being called into question so that's why we were keen to help them [Bowls NZ] provide them with some information."

Sparc invested $1 million into bowls in 2009, half in the high-performance plan and half into sport development.