Peter Williams: Success at double for Dawsons

We've admired some famous husband and wife sporting partnerships over the years. Think Jeff and Adine Wilson, Dion Nash and Bernice Mene or, in another era, Les and the late Colleen Mills.

You don't often say the same thing about administrators, especially in the professional age. But there's no doubting the current power couple in New Zealand sport - Gary and Sheryl Dawson.

He's chief executive of the Chiefs. She's CEO of Netball Bay of Plenty and, after a restructure of the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic this season, operations and marketing manager for the country's top team in the ANZ Netball Championship, after being boss till last year. So from the one household come the people running the two most successful regional sports franchises in New Zealand.

The Dawsons are former schoolteachers. Connection with their teams' region, and with some of their key people, goes back years. For instance, both taught Chiefs coach Ian Foster when he was a lad in Tokoroa.

Being local gives the couple a huge advantage. Sheryl Dawson insists much of the Magic's success is about offering players and their supporters a sense of pride and belonging to the region. But she's first to admit it's not all plain sailing combining two distinctive provincial areas and three cities into one entity.

"It's a bit like an arranged marriage, but you just have to get on with it and make it work." It helps that home games can be spread around and this year there are two fixtures each in Tauranga, Rotorua and Hamilton.

A top performing team retains the best local players and attracts quality from outside. It's a concept Canterbury rugby developed and almost perfected during the Robbie Deans era. It's where Auckland rugby has been woefully inadequate for years.

The Magic, under Sheryl Dawson as CEO, led the way in New Zealand netball by bolstering local talent with outside stars. No matter the grumbles from the rest of the country about the sweetheart deals for Irene van Dyk and Maria Tutaia, the Magic created an environment which attracted them. Whether or not it's good for the league to have such a dominant team is another discussion, but the Magic are playing by the rules. They've just been smarter than other teams in getting the players they want, and making sure they're happy there.

The history of Mr Dawson's team has been nowhere near as glorious as that of his wife's. Despite the outcome of the Super 14 final, this was by some distance their best year ever. Gary Dawson has been the Chiefs boss for a decade and has endured some pretty ordinary seasons before hitting the jackpot. But when you look at the Chiefs squad, you can't help but think here's a franchise which in recent times has taken a blueprint from the Magic and allowed talented outsiders to thrive in company with proven locals. Blues fans must still wonder how Mils Muliaina and Sione Lauaki can be starring on the other side of the Bombay Hills after being disaffected products of Auckland.

Although involved with two different organisations in separate sports, and spending a good deal of time in different cities, Sheryl and Gary Dawson are adamant that managing human resources is key to being a successful sports administrator.

"Gary and I agree to disagree on some things," she says, "but we both care hugely about people and that's what it's about." It's an inexact science but, if top teams come from systems that people enjoy playing and working in, results this year suggest Mr and Mrs Dawson have pretty much got it right.