David Leggat: Paymasters give a stern message

Tis the season of sporting upheaval.

New Zealand Cricket recently turned its selection operation on its head at the urging of new director of cricket John Buchanan.

The former Australian coach is adamant the new two-man panel system, with feeder information coming in from a range of sources, will work better than the traditional three-man group.

Now it's Swimming New Zealand, faced with the wrath of Government agency Sparc over poor performances allied with a current of mistrust and disconnection at elite level, preparing for significant change.

In the report prepared at Sparc's behest by former Olympic hockey representative and business executive Chris Ineson, there was a set of recommendations.

With what seemed great rapidity, SNZ accepted the lot. SNZ's chairman Murray Coulter supported them, as did his board, and they may have had a range of good reasons for doing so.

Here's one of them: go against Sparc at your financial peril.

There was a reference in the report to the possibility of funding drying up in the second half of this year if those recommendations weren't approved.

It sounded like a significant case of heavying; do it their way or you have a problem.

But these days, if you want the money to fund sport at the highest level with travel, coaching and all the bits and pieces which go into the high performance package, you do it. That's the fact of the matter.

It doesn't take much to find sports who have no time for Sparc.

A high-ranking official from one middle-tier sport spat tacks not long ago when the five-letter acronym was mentioned.

He was adamant his sport had been badly let down, having been told funding would be forthcoming if certain performances were produced.

They duly did what was required, only to be told the goalposts had moved in the meantime.

That said, funding has to come from somewhere. Try doing the corporate rounds with a begging bowl these days and see how far you get.

There was crunchy language in the Ineson report. SNZ officials may have winced on occasion.

Jan Cameron's thoughts on it would have been interesting to say the least.

However the most visible face of New Zealand swimming was gagged by her masters upon the report's release on Thursday.

As general manager of pathways and performance, she will have read that her position should - and therefore under Sparc's conditions for continuing financial support, will - be reviewed.

Reading between the lines, you'd wonder where Cameron would fit in under a revamp.

She should have been entitled to have her say. Instead, SNZ chief executive Mike Byrne rang the Herald that night to confirm he was not allowed to speak, and Cameron's cellphone was in the possession of an SNZ staffer.

Make what you like of that. Maybe they thought she'd feel the urge to have a crack back. As if.

All sports need people with the passion and enthusiasm of the former Australian Olympic silver medallist, as an hour-long interview with her a few years back made crystal clear.

You might not necessarily agree with her, or her methods, but sport needs forceful personalities who occasionally tilt at windmills.

All was not well in swimming, and the Ineson report suggests SNZ had fiddled while the high performance water bubbled. Silver and bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games don't cut it any more when it comes to hard assessment. Swimming has been handed its future, albeit with a beady eye over its shoulder.