Canoeing: Champ left up the creek

Olympic great Paul MacDonald fronting up at the Auckland Employment Court this week. Photo / Doug Sherring

A New Zealand Olympic great who is fighting for reinstatement to his job as national women's kayaking coach has already been shortlisted by Canoe Racing New Zealand for a new role.

The revelation that the people who sacked him might want him back, as incredible as it may seem, came as Paul MacDonald, one half of the multi-gold medal winning partnership with Ian Ferguson, appeared before the Employment Relations Authority this week.

The case is another step in one of the most intriguing sports stories of recent times. MacDonald and Ferguson, the national men's coach, were sacked by canoeing officials last year after a review of the sport.

The fallout and infighting has since resulted in the retirement of Olympic silver medallist Ben Fouhy, and the employment hearing this week managed to draw in more celebrity names, with MacDonald's situation compared to an employment stoush between news reader Susan Wood and TVNZ.

MacDonald is claiming his fixed-term contract as national women's coach was "ineffective" as it didn't list the reasons the job was temporary. He believed his contract would roll over if his team gave strong performances, and its deficiency made him an employee and entitled to wages from September last year.

In the hearing, his lawyer Jim Roberts said MacDonald's case was similar to that of high-profile presenter Wood, who successfully claimed TVNZ could not cut her $450,000 salary because her fixed-term contract was ineffective in 2005. The authority then ruled that she was a permanent employee.

Canoe Racing NZ's lawyer, Penny Swarbrick, conceded before authority member Alastair Dumbleton on Wednesday that the body had failed to put in writing the reasons why MacDonald's contract would end on August 31 last year. However, it was still valid and CRNZ had never given MacDonald any expectation his contract would be renewed.

The organisation had limited money from funding agency Sparc, grants and sponsorship, part of the reason a longer term deal had not been offered.

Sparc had undertaken a review of coaching requirements and as a result the fixed-term contract was not renewed.

After the hearing, MacDonald revealed he had been interviewed by CRNZ for new jobs.

"It verges on ironic that I have applied for two fulltime coaching roles being advertised at the moment. I have been interviewed and shortlisted and am waiting to hear whether I will be interviewed again."

However, based on what Swarbrick said during the hearing, the chances of his being re-employed would appear slim.

She said even if the fixed-term nature of last year's contract was deemed ineffective, MacDonald had breached his contract by speaking to the media and making derogatory comments about CRNZ - its executive would have dismissed him for serious misconduct.

MacDonald said he was the top performing coach in New Zealand at two of last year's biggest events. He said at the hearing he would never have taken the job had he known it would end after six months. "All my planning and development as coach was long term. I was focused on getting my team to the Olympics in 2012," he said.

The adjudicator reserved his decision.