KEY POINTS:
The decision not to fund the New Zealand men's Olympic football campaign is Sparc's 'line-in-the-sand' moment, and the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) could follow suit by not selecting them should they qualify.
"There's a clear message here and that is we don't fund Olympic participation," said Sparc general manager of sector development Peter Miskimmin. "We're here to produce medal-winning or credible performances at the Olympics.
"The issue - and this is a message for other sports next year - is that we provide a lot of other sports funding to prepare for qualification. The extent to which we support them after that will be determined by the quality of their performances next year."
New Zealand Soccer is disappointed the men's team has not been given build-up funding given they are "virtual certainties" to qualify for the Olympics.
"We've been left wondering what football has to do to get effective support because we've got two teams that are virtual certainties for the Olympics while other sports where that situation doesn't exist have received more funding," chief executive Graham Seatter said on the national body's website.
His optimism might be misplaced, however, with new NZOC prerogatives making Olympic qualification far from a fait accompli.
"Winning Oceania is important," NZOC secretary-general Barry Maister said, "but may not be sufficient for several sports which require wider international credibility.
"We're raising the bar in terms of selection standards and just meeting the Oceania qualifying process is not in itself enough," he said.
"In some sports such as basketball, it would be enough given Australia's high world ranking but in soccer, where Australia has left the Oceania confederation to link with Asia, the competition is too weak to merit automatic selection."
Seatter recognised the situation. "We understand a problem could arise if we simply qualify and believe we have a right to attend the Olympics but don't do anything to prepare for it. We know that just qualifying is not enough. But we will make sure both teams are prepared and are confident that both will go to the Olympics if they qualify."
Before the 2004 Athens Olympics, there was debate as to whether the Tall Ferns should have been selected after finishing behind Australia in the Oceania conference. Long-time NZOC selector Bruce Cameron resigned as a result of their selection, feeling they had done little to justify inclusion. Since then, more stringent standards have been put in place.
"The NZOC board, since Athens, has talked about defining more clearly a standard higher than it was for Athens. It's going to make it harder. We need individuals to demonstrate top 16 in the world capabilities and team sports need to show they are capable of getting past the first round," said Maister.
"Neither [the men's nor the women's football] team has a track record of success we can point to," said Miskimmin.
"Our role here [at Sparc] now is to create high standards in terms of performance. We are striving for medal-winning performances or performances that are credible at Olympic Games.
"We've given the women an opportunity. They've got a World Cup event next year and we've given them funding through to that so they can prove they can produce a credible performance in Beijing.
"That's the difference. The hard one for the men is that there is no programme in place. It's going to be difficult for them to prepare for the Olympics."
