Glenn halts funding, hits out at Hockey NZ
Auckland businessman Sir Owen Glenn has withdrawn funding for the Black Sticks programme in the wake of coach Mark Hager’s controversial departure.
In October, Glenn committed $2 million to the New Zealand men’s and women’s hockey teams, with High Performance Sport New Zealand matching that figure to bring the overall financial boost to $4 million.
However, Glenn has frozen the funding following Hager’s departure, which came during a review into the environment of the women’s team.
New Zealand Hockey released yesterday said they valued Glenn’s contribution and confirmed he won’t be adding the financial boost.
‘‘As a key funding partner, Sir Owen has been concerned about Mark Hager’s resignation – like Hockey New Zealand, he considered Mark to be the coach who would take the Black Sticks women’s team to Tokyo.
‘‘We are currently working through Sir Owen’s concerns with him, and are hopeful of a positive outcome of continued support for the team.’’
The review was launched in September after it emerged that Hager mistakenly sent an email bagging players to the entire team.
The email was sent during the team’s World Cup campaign and was meant for team management only. The findings of the review are expected to be released next week.
Glenn told the New Zealand Herald that he supported Hager, who took New Zealand to a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, and wanted access to the review.
‘‘I thought ‘hang on a minute’. I supported Mark and persuaded him to stay, I backed him and inadvertently supported him financially,’’ Glenn said.
‘‘If I’m putting $2 million behind hockey [across the next two years] there should at the very least be courtesy and respect so I know what’s going on.
‘‘I put my terms and conditions to the hockey board of what I want to see, including the report [review] which has been mysteriously under wraps.
‘‘I want proper governance and transparency, and I think the whole of hockey does too.
‘‘The guy [Hager] took us from 12th in Beijing [Olympics] to winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal. What did he do wrong?’’
Glenn said he spoke to the Black Sticks players and was unaware of any issues within the environment.
‘‘I was at every game. I’d talk to the players and coach – in fact Mark and I would talk every week – and for this to happen,’’ he said.
‘‘The hockey board said they supported him, but thank God they’re not in the trenches next to me.’’
Hager was recently appointed coach of the Great Britain and England teams.