Kiwi funding strikes right chord

The Crawford report has, if anything, given Sparc chief executive Peter Miskimmin comfort that Sparc and New Zealand sport in general is on the right track. Photo / Supplied

A government funding bias towards "elitist" Olympic sports; sports administration models that are outdated and lack accountability; faulty logic espoused that winning medals equates to increased participation in sport.

Do these sound like familiar arguments?

They were just a few of several findings of a panel report led by Fosters Group chairman David Crawford into Australian sport, a report commissioned by the federal Government - findings that have blown like napalm through the hallowed halls of the Australian Olympic Committee.

They are arguments that resonate with Sparc chief executive Peter Miskimmin. He's heard them all before, particularly during the Graham Report eight years ago that led to the formation of Sparc. If anything, the Crawford Report has given him comfort that Sparc and New Zealand sport in general is on the right track.

"The principle behind [the report] is, have they got the balance right between how much money goes in at grassroots level and how much goes in at elite level? That's a constant question we ask ourselves here," Miskimmin said.

Crawford's report claimed there was a bias in funding towards Olympic sports and that the goal of Australia being in the top five in the medal count at the quadrennial event was spurious. Each medal was calculated to have cost upwards of $15 million in funding and if the Government was serious about getting kids off the couches and into sport, that money could be better spent on mass participation sports such as Aussie rules and soccer.

"The issue is do you chase medals for medals' sake," Miskimmin said. "Look at the money Great Britain are putting in for 2012 [$1.25 billion from Government and lotteries], look at what Australia put in for Sydney. We can't play that game because we don't have that universal high-performance funding, so ours is very much around where we can be successful, recognising that success gives the country a feel-good factor and a sense of cultural identity."

Miskimmin says for the money we have, New Zealanders are unquestionably a world leader. In terms of per-dollar spend, New Zealand's nine medals in Beijing was behind only Jamaica and Kenya.

The track was those countries' only source of success whereas New Zealand won nine medals in five different sports (six if you separate track and field).

"There's a lot of countries around the world going, 'Shit, how does New Zealand do that'?"

Although the budgets are much smaller (the Government puts $38.1 million into high-performance sport while the AOC is asking for an additional $138 million on top of the A$129 million ($162 million) that is already invested), Sparc has not been without criticism that it, too, puts too much money into too few 'targeted' sports.

"It's a fundamental issue right around the world. The appetite to spend in high-performance sport is enormous," Miskimmin said, "but there is only so much to spread around.

"Because we have a limited amount of finance and resources we have had to make strategic decisions and part of that is to place money, investment and support into where you think you will get outcomes."

The outcomes Sparc is looking for are results at pinnacle events, including world championships, World Cups and, of course, the Olympics.

Six Olympic sports - athletics, sailing, triathlon, cycling, swimming and rowing - receive targeted funding, while the other sports have to make their case on a year-by-year basis for contestable funding (grassroots rugby, cricket and netball also receive targeted funding).

The contestable funding pots were released early this week, with women's hockey and kayaking the big winners.

The other question hovering over high-performance sport, a question raised by the Crawford Report, is far more difficult to answer: Does success at an elite level have a trickle-down effect on the grassroots of the sport?

"Every organisation around the world is challenged by that: to actually track the amount of success at elite stage with the growth and development and interest at a grassroots level. It's very problematic, very difficult to track and I don't think anybody has done it well."

Rather than focus on that one aspect, Miskimmin said it was more important to look at the reasons why countries engaged in high-performance sport.

"We feel enormously proud when New Zealanders do really well on the world stage - whether it be sport, art or business. So sport has a really important part in the cultural identity of who we are as New Zealanders," Miskimmin said.

He pointed to the All Whites qualification for next year's World Cup.

"How do you value that? It's impossible, but we know it's good."

CRAWFORD REPORT

Author: David Crawford, a high-profile businessman whose previous reports led to a revamp of the VFL into the AFL and revitalised Australian soccer
Commissioned by: Australian Sports Minister Kate Ellis
For: The consideration of the future of the Australian sports system
Key point: Federal Government funding was biased towards Olympic sports and the Olympic cycle, when the money would be better spent in mass participation sports like Australian rules, soccer, cricket and league