Paul Lewis: Silence is the easy way out

It is doubtful whether there has ever been a New Zealand Commonwealth Games team which has fallen so foul of a basic skill: Media management. With the fallout from the celebrated cyclists incident still raining down around the heads of chef de mission Dave Currie and his 34-strong management team, the focus has also moved to the way the cycling 'scandal' and other issues were handled.

From the silent boxing team to the Sarah Ulmer business to the cyclists, this was a Games team which seemed to revert to the age-old, head-in-the-sand error - don't tell them anything. Cover it up. It was a strange strategy as relations between the media and the Games management team were good.

There is no doubt New Zealand's sports management has moved more firmly into the realm of the corporate and the commercial. Communications is a key aspect of that realm. Openness and inclusion is a key aspect of communications.

But it was sadly lacking in this New Zealand team. Not because there weren't efforts made for the media. There were press conferences and helpful liaison people in several sports.

But, when the heat went on, management mouths stayed shut or, in a few cases, they opened but the smell of the breath was only lightly seasoned with the truth.

Like the Ulmer case. Her back troubles are well known. The announcement of her injury and withdrawal - held until race day - was at least partly hidden because they were hoping to get her right and not give her opponents any hint of her problems.

But this is what cycling road coach Jacques Landry said about Ulmer just before the event: "Sarah is good to go. Her form the last two-three weeks has indicated she has the fitness." Now it's not unknown for sports teams in this situation to take the media into their confidence. Not this time, it seems. Ulmer's handlers told the media she wasn't talking before the Games started because she wanted to focus on her event. Now we know the truth.

Then there came the major sin of omission - the cyclists. The New Zealand team, led by Currie, did not mention that, last Sunday, a security guard happened upon three New Zealand cyclists, two male and one female, engaged in activity that persuaded the security guard to refer the matter to the police. The police decided to take no action.

Problem was, four days later those pesky media (the Herald Sun in Melbourne) ran the story, claiming that the incident was in the nature of sexual assault, that clothes were stripped off and the two males urinated on her. This led to the unedifying sight of New Zealand's chef de mission in a media ruck outside the village, forced to discuss things like urination and sexual assault. But Currie still declined to name the athletes and the sordid details and claimed it was an incident of little significance.

Latest revelations from the village continue to cast doubt on this interpretation of events and it might be easier to believe the protestations of insignificance if matters hadn't been kept quiet in the first place.

How about this for an idea? When the incident happens, you call in the media. Tell them what occurred and say who was involved and how they have been dealt with. There might be some fallout but most of the media would accept it - and report it - for what it was: drunken mishaps by athletes on the lash after completing their events. Smack hand, we all go home.

Covering it up means the bite, when it comes (as it usually does), lodges far more deeply in the buttocks. But this team's outmoded media strategy seemed to be: 'When in doubt, don't speak out.'

Like the boxing team saddled with convicted manslaughterer Soulan Pownceby. They wouldn't talk to anybody. Their team of four all failed. Possibly there were extenuating circumstances.

But you'll probably never know. Because the media couldn't be bothered with anyone who couldn't be bothered with them.

No matter what you think of the Pownceby issue, it's not going to go away because the team doesn't talk. But coverage might - coverage of a sport which needs publicity and which wasn't able to pick up a single bronze at these Games.

New Zealand may not have won many medals in Melbourne. But we might yet win the gold for media mismanagement.

-HERALD ON SUNDAY