Swimming Australia plunging towards fresh major crisis that threatens to sink the national federation forever

Swimming Australia is plunging towards another major crisis that threatens to sink the national federation forever. Julian Linden explains how it got to this point and what is going to happen next.

Swimming Australia (SAL) is plunging towards another major crisis that threatens to sink the national federation forever.

Already in deep water after a leaked document revealed the shocking way female participants in the sport have been mistreated, SAL is now facing the risk of being expelled from the sport’s world governing body if it doesn’t accept a new constitution within days.

While Australia’s swimmers have been given reassurances their place at next year’s Paris Olympics won’t be jeopardised, international and federal sporting officials are understood to be preparing to sever ties with SAL, possibly even creating a new national swimming federation if members refuse to accept constitutional reform that will erode their decision making.

But highly-placed sources have told this masthead that members have already decided to dig their heels in and will reject the demands that have been put on them, accusing the big sporting bodies of behaving like ‘dictators’ and ‘meddling in affairs that is none of their business’.

With neither side showing signs of blinking first, the impasse is set to blow up on Friday when delegates from the SAL’s nine member organisations – comprising the states and territories and the swimming and coaching unions – cast their votes on the proposed constitutional changes.

If, as expected, the vote is rejected, all hell could break loose, setting the stage for a bitter battle for control of the sport in this country at the same time the team is cleaning up in the pool.

Swimming Australia is plunging towards another crisis. Picture: Getty Images

WHAT IS THE DISPUTE ABOUT?

Australia has one of the best swimming teams in the world but out of the water, the national federation is a basket case, struggling to find new sponsors and broadcast deals and retain its leaders, with executives coming and going at an alarming rate.

Privately, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and the government run Australian Sports Commission (ASC) are fed up with all the constant scandals so have been putting the squeeze on SAL to get its house in order.

The ASC, run by Olympic swimming great Kieren Perkins, wants to overhaul the way SAL is structured, replacing the existing federated model – where the states and territories hold the balance of power and are each given a share of the funding pool – with a centralised model.

However, the majority of the nine member organisations want to retain the federated model, arguing that past results prove they are best placed to decide how to spend their grants and how to run grassroots and development programs.

WHY DID WORLD AQUATICS GET INVOLVED?

Formerly known as FINA, the rebranded World Aquatics (AQUA) is the sport’s global governing body. Once a notoriously dodgy organisation, AQUA has just undergone major reform itself and like an ex-smoker, it wants everyone to quit their worst habits.

AQUA’s chief executive Brent Nowicki told this masthead they only got involved with SAL after a group of leading Australian swimmers came to him asking for help to sort out the problems.

“We don’t go out looking for these fights,” Nowicki said.

“In this particular case, questions started to be asked of Australia and you don’t have to peel the onion back too far to see it’s pretty rotten.

“For us, it’s really just a point of listening to athletes and other people who are telling us that this is just a broken, broken board and it’s a broken, broken system.

“People are just really glad that someone is actually standing up to do something because they can’t rely on the board to do anything and they can’t rely on the members to do anything.”

Australian swimming great Kieren Perkins is the CEO of the Australian Sports Commission. Picture: Gary Ramage

WHAT DID WORLD AQUATICS TELL SWIMMING AUSTRALIA?

Less than two months ago, this masthead obtained copies of secret letters that AQUA had sent to SAL, threatening to suspend Australia’s membership of the global body unless it modernised its constitution.

The leaking of the explosive report prompted SAL to fast track calls for an urgent general meeting – scheduled to take place on October 20 – so members could vote on whether or not to accept the new constitution vote.

Michelle Gallen, who was president at the time but has since departed, pleaded with the members to support the changes, saying she genuinely feared SAL would be expelled from AQUA if it didn’t reform.

WHAT CHANGES WERE PROPOSED IN THE NEW CONSTITUTION?

SAL’s interim president Susan Smith last month revealed that the new 62-page constitution – which had been endorsed by AQUA, the ASC and SAL board members, included the following changes:

- Any Australian who is a member of the World Aquatics Bureau will be appointed as a director of the Swimming Australia Board with full voting rights.

- The creation of an Athletes’ Commission and the appointment of an Athlete Director position on the board, with full voting rights.

- Changes to the makeup of the board, with more appointed directors and less elected directors.

– An increase to the overall number of members entitled to vote at general meetings from nine to at least 21, giving more recognition to grassroots participants.

-The addition of a new role of vice-president.

WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE FROM MEMBERS?

Speaking on condition of anonymity, members have told this masthead they will reject the proposed constitution as it is but have sent a letter to SAL asking for nearly 10 amendments, including.

- Allowing the swimmers and coaches union to enter commercial arrangements.

- Limiting the power of the SAL board.

- Retaining the same number of voting members.

- Ensuring there are more elected directors than appointed directors.

- Opposing the creation of a new athlete committee when there is already a swimmer’s association.

AQUA’s chief executive Brent Nowicki.

WHAT HAS THE RESPONSE TO THE MEMBERS’ DEMANDS BEEN?

Australian officials have remained tight-lipped, adopting a wait-and-see and approach, but AQUA has gone on the front foot, saying the members’ demands were unreasonable and would not be accepted.

“Anyone who advocates for the status quo is advocating for self interest,” Nowicki said.

“Anyone who is saying this is not a good thing is only advocating for self interest because there’s no justifiable reason not to have athletes at the forefront of what they’re doing.

“Their counter proposal is just about trying to maintain their power. It’s not about putting athletes at the centre of what you’re doing, it’s about self-interest. It’s just about keeping their power.

“The current standards that have been put forward by the membership don’t even meet the basic standards of sports governance in Australia.

“Swimming Australia is the highest funded NSO (National Sporting Organisation) in Australia. It is a Tier 1 federation but from a governance level it’s Tier 3.

“I think they’ve got bigger problems to worry about. You’ve got us coming down on you but you’ve got a funding arm coming down saying you don’t even meet the standards we set.”

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THE NEW CONSTITUTION IS REJECTED LATER THIS WEEK?

This is where it gets really interesting.

AQUA has already said it will revoke SAL’s membership and install a stabilisation committee, who will effectively take over the running. Their role will essentially be to broker a deal for a new constitution, but working from the inside.

It is also expected that ASC will start to tighten the noose by withholding some of the sport’s taxpayer funding, saying it doesn’t meet the right governance thresholds.

If that doesn’t break the members, AQUA does have a bigger stick it can whack everyone with – by cutting all its ties with SAL and ratifying an entirely different organisation as Australia’s official representative federation.

“We don’t want to do this. This is not the best use of our time or resources to have to do this but it’s our obligation,” Nowicki said.

“We don’t want to go down the nuclear road here but this is not leadership. If you are a leader, you have to make the right decision for the people you represent.

“Let’s say we have a board that is reluctant, and not supporting (change) and says, ‘Hey World Aquatics you are over reaching, you’re stepping, we’re happy with the way we are, go home’.

“In that case the stabilisation committee could step in as the operative board, and could run an election, could prepare a constitution and put it to the membership who can vote on it.

“In the Philippines, we had such resistance that when we put the stabilisation committee in place, they basically gave us the stiff arm and blocked everything.

“There were a lot of bad issues that snowballed to the point where we ended up expelling them, and that’s where they currently are.

“There’s a new Philippines Aquatics that has applied for membership with a constitution that’s aligned with the constitution that we would expect of a national federation.

“Is that something that we could foresee in Australia? Unfortunately yes, it’s something that is a possible tool in the belt if this membership completely refuses to change and if we have to think about whether the relationship with Swimming Australia is one we want to continue or do we want to look elsewhere to find a different representative body.”

The saga will not impact Australian swimmers and the events they can compete in. Picture: AFP Images

IS SWIMMING AUSTRALIA BEING SINGLED OUT?

AQUA rarely interferes with national federations but has recently got involved with the Philippines, Mexico and Kenya, all for different reasons. Australia is the first major swimming nation to be targeted, raising questions whether AQUA is overreaching in its powers when it hasn’t done the same with Russia or China.

Nowicki’s response was: “We don’t have a stabilisation committee in Russia, we don’t have any place in China because there’s no governance or constitutional issues that we are aware of.

“Their constitutions are compliant with their obligations and they don’t have athletes saying we have a problem here.

“You’ve got this rotating door of CEOs and presidents so you’ve got to ask the question, ‘What’s going on?’

“We spoke to the NOC (National Olympic Committee) and we spoke to the Sports Commission and we realised this is actually a bigger problem. So now we’re in the fight and trying to lend a hand to fix it.

“There’s no guaranteed athlete voice and this has to change. Not only that, but you’ve got a World Aquatics board member who doesn’t have a vote, which is a violation of the constitution, so it kind of starts to snowball a little bit.

“We have full support from the board, we have the full support from the sports commission, so we’ve got the four major players (including AQUA and the AOC) all lined up on this particular issue.”

HOW WILL IT IMPACT SWIMMERS?

The only thing everyone agrees on is that no matter what happens, Australia’s swimmers will not be impacted in any way and will be allowed to compete at major events, such as the Olympics, under their own flags.

“We will ensure that,” Nowicki said.

“It’s the dichotomy of what’s happening in Australia because you have arguably one of the best national teams of all time, and for the foreseeable future.

“And on the other hand, you’ve got this revolving door of management that can’t seem to get itself straight and their members are the only ones who don’t want change. That just seems strange.”

IS SWIMMING AUSTRALIA CONFIDENT THE NEW CONSTITUTION WILL BE ACCEPTED

A spokesman from the Swimming Australia board said The Board of Swimming Australia was continuing its consultation process with its voting Member Organisations on the proposed new constitution ahead of the Special General Meeting on Friday October 20.

The new constitution will modernise Swimming Australia’s governance standards and practices, and provide everyone involved with Swimming in Australia, from grassroots and community level, through to high-performance, with an enhanced experience, no matter their level of involvement.

World Aquatics and the Australian Sports Commission have endorsed the new constitution, which also has the support of the Australian Olympic Committee and Paralympics Australia, and we remain in regular dialogue with all of them ahead of Friday’s vote.

Should the proposed constitution not be accepted on Friday then AQUA reserves the right to apply the appropriate statutory measures which could include the suspension/expulsion of the federation and/or appointment of a Stabilisation Committee.