Former hockey boss David Hatt calls for intervention in AOC fight

Ex-Hockey Australia boss David Hatt has called for federal political intervention in the AOC-sports commission war.

Former Hockey Australia boss David Hatt.

A former Hockey Australia boss who was deposed by a faction that included Australian Olympic Committee presidential hopeful Danni Roche has called for federal political intervention in the war between the AOC and the Australian Sports Commission.

The bad blood between the AOC — which remains fiercely independent of government — and the federally-run ASC, which funds Australian sport, has been simmering since a poor Rio Olympic performance saw Aust­ralia slip down the medal table to 10th spot.

Roche, who stood down from the ASC board when she announced her bid to end John Coates’s 26-year reign, sits firmly in the camp of its chairman John Wiley.

In November, former ASC board member and Fremantle Football Club chief executive David Hatt resigned from his ­position as president of Hockey Australia when it became apparent he would be toppled at the AGM three days later by a faction containing Roche.

That power struggle also saw former defence minister Stephen Smith stand down from his board position.

With the pro-Coates Hatt out of the way, the door was opened for the sport to nominate Roche to take on Coates at the AOC’s AGM on May 6, something that would never have happened under Hatt.

“This current contest is an extension of the combat between some elements of the Australian Sports Commission and the ­Australian Olympic Committee and that has been, and is, so unhealthy for sport,” Hatt told The Weekend Australian.

“It represents a wish by the sports commission to get involved in an area where it’s not approp­riate ... it’s part of the same game running for months.”

Hatt said given the decline in relations between the two bodies responsible for Australian Olympic success, there needed to be intervention at a federal level.

“The current battle is unnecessary and unproductive — it has got to be solved and solved quickly,” he said.

“There needs to be interference at a political level to ensure the sports commission sticks with its charter and its core business, which is raising money from the government and then allocating it as it and the government see fit. It’s gone away from that.

“Funding is at the root of this problem because there is a view — which I don’t agree with — that the AOC has funds which it could and should allocate to sports. It’s not the fault of the Olympic committee — that’s the fault of the ASC-run sport system, which has led to problems.

“Post the Sydney Olympics, the AOC has done particularly well in consolidating their position, whereas in the last four years, and probably the next four years, there have been and will be a series of budget cuts imple­mented by government.

“That’s been a key problem for the ASC which it has not solved and has not addressed — that’s the root cause of the conflict currently occurring.”

One national federation chief executive told The Australian the showdown between the two was making sports nervous.

“This is the one thing we didn’t want to have to do — pick sides,” the CEO said on condition of anonymity.

“Now all sports are going to have to pick sides and then be worried if Danni doesn’t get up and you didn’t support her and she goes back to John Wylie — she’s not the shy, retiring type.

“I know Danni has stood down from the board now, but I can’t see how she can remain on the sports commission board after the election.”

The CEO said Roche was ­saying all the right things to garner support but was not the right candidate for the job.

“She is representing really well in the two core issues that other CEOs have been critical of, John Coates’s salary and that no one can say good governance is 26 years in the same job,” they said.

“She will get some support but this will force Coates into formalising the succession. That will probably appease everyone.

“The feeling is that Coates will get the numbers ... but he’ll confirm a succession, and the guess on the successor is Mark Arbib.”