Paul Lewis: Bowls row is hard to solve

Fast forward to the Delhi Commonwealth Games (assuming they actually go ahead in October... ) and the usual haul of medals that come from New Zealand's crack lawn bowls team.

That word "crack" is especially appropriate. Men's elite bowls in this country is showing more cracks than a bevy of builders. It is not clear at this stage how bowls will cement over the fissures that have sprung from the Gary Lawson "match-fixing" affair; some of the cracks appear more like canyons.

See Lindsay Knight's stories for an illustration of the wider issues brought into sharp relief by the Lawson controversy - a bowls executive seemingly at odds with some of their finest players; hardly a recipe for success, especially with the Commonwealth Games looming.

There are three main protagonists in this saga - Bowls NZ chief executive Kerry Clark, double world champion bowler Lawson and NZ team coach Dave Edwards. The position of all three seems potentially untenable and how Bowls NZ extracts itself from this mess will make for interesting watching indeed.

Lawson, Shannon McIlroy, Jamie Hill and Shayne Sincock were playing Thailand in the fours at the Asia-Pacific Championships in Malaysia last August. An independent panel found they deliberately lost an end against the Thais.

The contention was that they were medal contenders and realised that, if they managed the scoreline, they could clear themselves a potentially more profitable path to a medal. Translation: They could duck Australia.

Problem was, their action had a consequence. Canada missed out on any further play and complained. It's important at this point to be clear that all four New Zealand players insist they did not "throw" the 17th end; that they played poorly and were undone by a fluke Thai bowl on the last end.

They are awaiting their punishment and it is not clear whether they will be censured, banned or out of contention for the Commonwealth Games. Whatever happens, an appeal or some sort of legal action could occur.

Edwards was allegedly the whistle-blower; involved in conversation with the Canadians that became the basis of the complaint and case against skip Lawson, according to a media report last year.

Lawson accused Clark of pursuing a personal vendetta against him. That seemed unfair, given that an official complaint was laid and that Bowls NZ had little choice but to follow up.

Also unfair has been the terminology of the case brought against Lawson. "Match-fixing" and "throwing" are terms that imply monetary reward; like that gained through bookmakers for fixing a result. There has been not even a hint of that and no accusations of that nature from anybody.

Interestingly, however, this incident has been fought out in public - enabling Lawson's 'vendetta' charge to gain some traction. A previous incident, at the world championships in New Zealand in 2008, also allegedly involved Lawson, according to a Sunday Star-Times report last year, but was dealt with out of the public eye.

While Lawson has a reputation as a sometimes tempestuous individual, Clark is so highly regarded as an administrator that he won the inaugural Sparc Leadership Excellence Award last year. But, among bowlers, he has nonetheless been fingered as part of the problem regarding the elite athletes.

Bowls insiders talk of Clark's autocratic ways and inflexibility. Many think the premature loss of players such as Peter Belliss, Danny O'Connor and Rowan Brassey to New Zealand teams occurred under Clark. Maybe that, too, is unfair but it calls to mind Lady Bracknell's immortal quote to Ernest in Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of being Ernest: "To lose one parent may be regarded as unfortunate; to lose both looks like carelessness."

Most of the aired opinion on this controversy has tended towards the "don't be silly, he [Lawson] was just seeking an advantage" perspective and that Bowls New Zealand used a mallet to squash a midge.

Brassey told TVNZ that the actions of Lawson and the men's four were common: "I've known people that you're playing against to throw an off, especially over in Australia," he said. "You go to the UK, it happens all the time - it's just part of the game."

He's right. If the independent panel was correct and the four deliberately lost an end, I'll eat the spare tyre out of my car boot if they are the only people to have done so.

It happens in other sports too. What about the track athlete who pulls up short of the tape, deliberately restraining himself or herself, running only to qualify? Is that any different? Or the tennis player, so far behind in a set that he or she tanks it; preferring to focus on the next.

What about footballers who con referees when it comes to penalties and/or fouls? Or teams which deliberately play the clock down by playing negative or boring football; never mind the fans and the spectacle.

In 2001, New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming clinically dumped the Australians out of their own Tri-Series by adopting a go-slow by his team against South Africa. Fleming got heaps for that but it was within the rules of the contest; if not the spirit of it - same as that little underarm incident way back when.

No, manipulating to advantage is to modern, professional sport as bees are to honey. Maybe the answer is for bowls to adopt a system that removes the temptation.

International sport should be played flat out; no quarter given nor asked; full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes.

Trying to dodge someone is surely ceding the opponent a psychological edge if and when they do meet. It's possible to be too clever sometimes. Better, surely, to keep winning; to build confidence and the winning habit.

Remember the Lawson four have denied any wrongdoing - so this example might be flawed. In Malaysia, the Kiwis still ended up playing Australia in the semifinal. They lost.