Caleb Clarke and Blues chairman Don Mackinnon, who also heads the Sport Integrity Commission. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Gender balance is improving at sport's highest levels but more leadership roles for Māori and Pasifika people are needed, Don Mackinnon says.
Mackinnon is a bit of a 'Mr Fix-it' when it comes to New Zealand sport. A good rugby player in his youth, he started gravitating towards sports law when it was in its infancy in Aotearoa about 30 years ago and has never looked back.
He's held several influential roles across the sphere of New Zealand sport including chairing NZ Cricket's High Performance Advisory Committee, serving as a director of Sport New Zealand, and director of High Performance Sport NZ.
Mackinnon has also led several major independent reviews, including a report on the Silver Ferns disastrous 2018 Commonwealth Games campaign and a review into the All Whites failed World Cup qualifying campaign in 2022.
The sports lawyer and governance expert now chairs the new Sport Integrity Commission, which was sparked by the death of Olympic cyclist Olivia Podmore and a series of damning reviews into the country's elite sporting environments.
How did you get into sports law?
"I wasn't a particularly good rugby player but I was good enough to play with a number of players who became really good athletes. So when rugby went professional in the mid 1990s my first role as a lawyer was to act for some of my friends and colleagues who had gone on to become professionals so that sort of opened the door. Employment law, which is the area I specialised in since day one, provides a really strong foundation for sports law. All of a sudden rugby went professional and all of a sudden people needed advice in this area and started knocking on my door. Not long after that the firm I was a partner at, Simpson-Grierson, picked up New Zealand Rugby as a client so a really fortunate sequence of events worked well for me."
What was that period of time like?
"It was professionalism at its infancy in New Zealand sport, and rugby had lived in that sort of 'shamateurism' era as I think they called it for a long time, a period where any payments were being made unofficially so they were amazing days. Everyone was learning on the job and that then led to the players starting to form players' associations and collective bargaining ...I've been really lucky to have been sort of there from day one on that journey."
Who did you play rugby with?
"I went to St Peter's College in Auckland and my First XV captain was Bernie McCahill and then played all my rugby at Marist in the era when you still had great rugby players playing club rugby so the likes of JK (John Kirwan), the Brooke clan, Bernie, numerous Auckland players. I was nowhere near their category of skills but certainly made a lot of mates and colleagues along the way."
You've carried out a lot of reviews over the years - what are some of the common pitfalls sports organisations fall into?
"Without commenting on any particular review I do think it really starts with the quality of governance and it's been a journey for a lot of our national sports organisations to move towards high quality governance and I think many sports are still on that journey. So to me that's the starting point because everything flows from a sport having a really clear sense of its vision, its purpose, and then a really clear understanding of where high performance fits within that but it's not an easy space.
"Despite the fact there's not a lot of revenue in New Zealand sport, there's a huge amount of interest and passion and in every sport there's a vast number of stakeholders, all of whom feel deeply invested in their sport so governance and senior management in sport is not easy because you are constantly trying to keep that stakeholder group satisfied. And if you don't have a really clear sense of who you are and what you're trying to achieve and then can align what you're doing off that vision and purpose then in my view mistakes get made and organisations lose direction."
Don Mackinnon speaks during a Sport NZ launch of major integrity initiatives to keep sport safe, fair and inclusive, on December 16, 2020. Photo: Elias Rodriguez
Has diversity in sports governance improved fast enough over the years?
"I think primarily through the pressure applied by Sport New Zealand, we're getting far better at one aspect of diversity, which is gender balance around our sports tables. I think some have been dragged there kicking and screaming but I think we've moved a lot in the right direction around gender at that national sport level. I think we are still hugely under-represented in terms of Māori and Pasifika leaders in our sports both around the board table and management and I think that's particularly the case with Pacific peoples. You know, they provide such strong representation in many of our sports and yet we don't have enough Pacific peoples in leadership positions so I think that's a real gap.
"Putting that aside though I think the biggest challenge for governance is walking this tight rope between attracting independent directors, who are appointed because of their skill-set or their diversity and what they can bring, balanced against the fear that if you fill your board table with independent so-called experts - are they connected enough to the heart of the game? I think that's a constant struggle for every sport and I think it's at the heart of what New Zealand Rugby's gone through in the last couple of years and striking that balance is such a difficult issue but an extraordinarily important one."
How difficult is the balancing act between high performance goals and athlete welfare?
"We are learning as we go ...in my view there is no doubt that you can create a really strong high performance environment that still puts athlete welfare at its core but it's not easy and it requires a different mindset. And I think aspects of this almost relate to generational change. You often hear that younger generations don't work as hard and aren't prepared to put in the graft - that is absolutely not my impression of younger leaders and athletes coming through our country. I think the difference is that a lot of members of younger generations don't tolerate and aren't prepared to put up with ill-treatment - they put their hand up and say 'that's not good enough' and I think that's a positive thing and I think that's almost been the catalyst for sports to look at themselves and say 'do we have to change?'
"I think that's something to be really applauded, I think athletes now are much better at coming together, forming athlete voice, getting some representation. I think it's a really healthy journey that we're on at the moment, not always easy and I'm sure many coaches are nervous about the sort of new lens that is applied to how we treat our athletes. But to me it's totally achievable to get that balance and much needed."
Do we put too much blame on national coaches?
"I think in the history of sport that's probably always been the case. I think it's really important that we as sport's organisations look after the mental health and well-being of our coaches just as we have to look after our athletes. But I think at the end of the day one of the main learnings I would take from far too many years doing these types of roles is that if your national team is winning, the ability to move your sport forward is infinitely easier. Conversely, you can be one of the best run sports organisations in the land and if your national team is losing you will come under criticism, you will find if harder to generate revenue and whether you are the chair, CEO, or head coach you will feel in the firing line. That is just one of the sad realities of high performance sport. Winning is not everything but it helps immensely if you are trying to move your sport forward and that's why frankly getting your high performance right is a core part of any national sports organisation."
The Sport Integrity Commission opened its doors six months ago - are you happy with what has been achieved so far?
"There's been a huge amount to do in a relatively short space of time, I think we've pulled together a very good board and management team. The code of integrity, which will be formally released soon is shaping up really well and I think we've done a really good job in taking sports with us on our journey to get that code right. Not everyone is going to like it but we have consulted to a huge extent to make sure people have had a chance to be heard. Early days but delighted with how it's come together so far."