In 2010, Sport New Zealand’s 2010-2015 Community Sport Strategy referred to “club” no fewer than 53 times. Fast forward nearly a decade and a half to 2024, and the crown entity's 2024-2028 Strategic Plan does not mention “club” at all. As American poet and social activist Marianne Moore once said, “omissions are not accidents.”
In 2010, SPARC (as Sport New Zealand was then known) employed 74 full-time staff. Today, there are 318 Sport New Zealand group staff, an increase of 330%. (Over the same period, New Zealand’s population grew by 20%). Around two-thirds of Sport New Zealand's employees earn over $100,000 a year, a proportion well above the national average for New Zealand's public servants, with the total cost of staff ballooning by $33 million (360%) over the past 15 years.
It seems inconceivable that a crown entity with such significant taxpayer resources is not directly investing in the organisational entities which primarily deliver sport to New Zealanders, namely our community sport clubs. Noting that the average number of club volunteers has halved over the past five years (as reported by the 2024 National Sport Club Survey), and with new regulation likely to end the lives of many clubs through involuntary or voluntary dissolution, it’s almost as if there is a deliberate strategy to let clubs fail, with little regard for the social consequences.
The Minster for Sport and Recreation’s independent rapid review of Sport New Zealand announced in November was intended to review how Sport New Zealand allocates public funds. In a statement announcing the review, Chris Bishop said, “the objective is to provide assurance and visibility to the Minister for Sport and Recreation, and to the public, that the use of public funding by the Sport New Zealand Group is efficient and effective."
It will be interesting to see if the review outcome is made public.
On 13 December, Chris Bishop appointed four new members to the board of Sport and Recreation New Zealand, with further appointments to the Board to be made in the new year. Replacing Dame Farah Palmer, Rakesh Naidoo, Suri Bartlett and Beatrice Faumuina are Megan Campbell, John Fiso (ONZM), Kathryn Irving and Ken Laban. On the back of the Minister’s review, the Association hopes that these changes will also be the catalyst for a change in strategic intent, to stop Sport New Zealand's unspoken abandonment of our community sport clubs.
