Bowls: O'Connor sees Lawson match-fixing row as 'tip of the iceberg'

One of New Zealand's best bowls administrators, Terry O'Connor, believes the match-fixing controversy, which has had Kerry Clark and Gary Lawson as the main antagonists, is just one of symptoms of the problems plaguing the sport.

"Kerry has been an iconic leader of bowls in this country for 20 years and internationally he's Mr Bowls," O'Connor says.

"But now it's definitely time for a change and for some fresh ideas to help tackle those problems."

O'Connor has been chairman of both Bowls New Zealand and Auckland and has been a competent player with Auckland's Carlton club for more than 20 years.

He's also an accomplished businessman; the New Zealand manager for an international company with a billion dollar turnover.

But despite his impressive credentials and willingness to return to administration, he has been apparently not wanted.

He confirmed he had recently applied to fill a vacancy on the national board. However, he had not even received an acknowledgement of his application.

"My view is that the Lawson case is only the tip of the iceberg," he says.

Among O'Connor's concerns is the loss of money incurred by Bowls NZ from investments with a finance company.

Another is the process by which major events have been awarded.

"The world championships was held in Christchurch in 2008 but there wasn't a contestable process used to decide that," O'Connor says.

While he had no doubt Christchurch would be a top venue again, a centre like Auckland was also equipped to hold the event and had the financial resources to underwrite it fully.

And the next two national championships would be held back-to-back in Dunedin.

"That's unbelievable," says O'Connor, who points out that would obviously restrict entries from the North Island.