Pronunciation video a ‘ripoff’
High Performance Sport New Zealand is to investigate the departure of head sprint coach Anthony Peden from Cycling New Zealand after allegations of inappropriate behaviour were aired.
Peden said in a CNZ statement on Wednesday he was stepping down because his approach was not aligned with that of CNZ.
But 1News said it understood there was growing unrest from athletes and staff about Peden, including allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
It said more than 20 staff have left the organisation since the 2016 Rio Olympics, with many saying the toxic environment within the cycling team was the reason.
Three former employees detailed to 1News at least seven times where they raised concerns about Peden’s alleged behaviour in debriefs or informal discussions.
It was understood Cycling NZ treated this as rumour until a formal complaint was laid this month after which Peden resigned, 1News reported.
Peden could not be reached for comment and CNZ chief executive Andrew Matheson has declined to answer questions around the accusations because they relate to an employment relationship.
High Performance Sport NZ chief executive Michael Scott said yesterday he would be launching an investigation as given the information the organisation had, it ‘‘could and should have’’ done more in relation to Peden.
‘‘I will be commissioning an investigation so that we get to the bottom of this and learn from our mistakes,’’ Scott said in a statement released to Radio New Zealand.
‘‘Integrity and ethics are fundamentals of sport.’’
Peden, who had been head sprint coach since 2013, guided the men’s team sprint trio to unparalleled success with three world championship titles, an Olympic silver medal at Rio and 14 Commonwealth Games medals – including back-to-back golds in the team and individual sprint.
In the CNZ statement, he said that his all-encompassing approach was not aligned to that of CNZ.
Matheson said Peden was a major loss for his organisation. ‘‘The results speak for themselves with Anthony having been a Halberg Award coach of the year and his sprinters have achieved global success.’’
Peden’s position will be advertised almost immediately. A New Zealand Rugby (NZR) video about pronouncing names correctly has developed a stutter, with a video production firm alleging it is a ‘‘ripoff’’ of its intellectual property.
In a video campaign entitled Say My Name, NZR encourages fans to ‘‘help people feel brave – and safe enough – to have a go at pronouncing some of the more difficult names’’.
It features Highlanders winger Waisake Naholo and team-mate James Lentjes, Crusaders duo Richie Mo’unga and Michael Alaalatoa, Wes Goosen of the Hurricanes, Dalton Papali’i of the Blues and Pita Gus Sowakula and assistant coach Tabai Matson of the Chiefs.
But one day after it was made public, video production firm The Coconet has reacted angrily on Twitter, saying it made a video of Polynesian rugby league players doing exactly the same thing two years ago. ‘‘Disappointed that the well resourced @SuperRugbyNZ has decided to rip it off and copy everything from the name to the gfx and sound effects,’’ The Coconet said.
The Coconet, which says it is the ‘‘world’s largest virtual village of online videos made by Islanders for Islanders’’ – adorned its tweet with the hashtags #WeSeeYou and #BreachOfIP.
Its version, called The Nitty Kritty – Say My Name, featured National Rugby League players in Australia, with producer Kristian ‘Krit’ Schmidt saying on Twitter he made it two years ago.
NZR was not able to immediately respond to a Stuff request about the allegations made, but made assurances it would.
On the face of it, NZR’s video has remarkable similarities to The Nitty Kritty – Say My Name by The Coconet, though the format for both is very simple.
The music is similar, players state their names, red crosses appear when a name is pronounced incorrectly, correct pronunciation earns a green tick, and the phoentic spellings run across the screen.
Some TV commentators – particularly in Australia and South Africa – have struggled with names of players of Maori and Pacific Island origin in New Zealand teams, while All Blacks coach Steve Hansen recently attracted criticism for simply referring to Chiefs and new All Black halfback Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi as ‘‘Triple T’’.