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Sadly we now announce further resignations, this time from Swim England’s Water Polo Management Group - September 30, 2019
Following the recently announced departure of the England and Great Britain senior men’s Head Coach, it is with a heavy heart that we bring news of further resignations of leaders of the England Water Polo Community.
With immediate effect, the Swim England Water Polo Coaches Pathway Lead, Sarah Dunsbee and Manchester relationship Lead, Eamonn O’Rourke have announced their resignation from Swim England’s Water Polo Management Group.
Sarah told us, “Today is a very sad day for me and I am finally giving up in a role that has just become unpleasant and unsatisfying. To spend more than 40 hours a week on something as a volunteer you must enjoy what you are doing and in the current climate this is just not possible.
Swim England and British swimming have been a part of mine and my family’s life for so many years I can’t even begin to count, in a swimming capacity both in the pool and open water and in the past 20 years more heavily in water polo. Over these years there have been many ups and downs and on more than one occasion I have read comments about the NGB and water polo being better off apart than together. I have defended our Governing body on so many occasions as I am very aware of the consequences of having our own federation and the work that goes on within our Governing body to support the sport. However, Over the past 18months on too many occasions I have felt things coming to ahead and for the first time in my career as an athlete, coach and administrator for this sport I can no longer see how I can continue trying to break down barriers between us.
Water Polo and our Governing body are so far apart it will take a fundamental overhaul to build the bridges that are needed to pull us back together. I so hope I am wrong for the sake of the sport as right now it is in my opinion Water Polo is at the lowest point it has ever been and that breaks my heart. We need leadership urgently and all the time we have no leader we will continue to break down. Clubs, coaches and administrators will just form their own ideas on the way forward this will lead to chaos.
The Management group to which I was appointed following the Tunnicliffe report has changed since its inception and now I am one of the last remaining members to throw in the towel, following on from some amazing knowledgeable and talented people, like Phil Winstanley, Mike Jukes, Chris Dean, Simon Tinkler Davies, Mike Hesketh and others whom I have so much time and admiration for this group has diminished rapidly due to their resignations. Over the past 18 months to 2 years any recommendations we put forward are undermined by the office staff who make final decisions on the way forward within the sport. Unfortunately, fundamentally wrong decisions on so many occasions I feel I can no longer support any of their decisions going forward and therefore this makes my involvement with them untenable.
I have offered to continue with the latest pilot of the senior coach programme as at least I can leave the sport knowing all 3 of our formal qualifications are now up and running. However, that is up to the IOS as they may not wish to continue with this following my resignation.
I am very very sad today and I am sure I will remain so for many months to come.”
Eamonn explained, “The main reason for me making this decision is that in my opinion the group has moved away from its original role and in doing so has lost its purpose. Although I have had conversations with the relevant staff at Swim England and with others I no longer understand our role as there is no direct governance between our group and Swim Englands leadership of the sport.
I think that there is confusion within Swim England and British Swimming about the purpose of the group and how it should function, which has led to significant consternation within the water polo community. In my view the sport also lacks a clear vision and strategy in a number of areas with no obvious way for me to have a dialogue or to be able to input in a positive and constructive way and whilst this is the case I do not see this as good use of our time and energy.
For water polo to be successful there should be a joint approach between Swim England and British Swimming for the sport to maximise any opportunities for the sport and in my view this is not the case.
My intention is to continue supporting water polo in Manchester in the way that I have done for many years and if at a future time there is an interest from Swim England and British Swimming in developing a whole sport strategy then I will see if I am to get involved again at that time.”
On behalf of the England Water Polo community we would like to express our profound thanks for the hard work and dedication of Sarah and Eamonn, and acknowledge the enormous contribution that they have both made to our sport.
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Latest News
Sadly we now announce further resignations, this time from Swim England’s Water Polo Management Group -
Following the recently announced departure of the England and Great Britain senior men’s Head Coach, it is with a heavy heart that we bring news of further resignations of leaders of the England Water Polo Community.
With immediate effect, the Swim England Water Polo Coaches Pathway Lead, Sarah Dunsbee and Manchester relationship Lead, Eamonn O’Rourke have announced their resignation from Swim England’s Water Polo Management Group.
Sarah told us, “Today is a very sad day for me and I am finally giving up in a role that has just become unpleasant and unsatisfying. To spend more than 40 hours a week on something as a volunteer you must enjoy what you are doing and in the current climate this is just not possible.
Swim England and British swimming have been a part of mine and my family’s life for so many years I can’t even begin to count, in a swimming capacity both in the pool and open water and in the past 20 years more heavily in water polo. Over these years there have been many ups and downs and on more than one occasion I have read comments about the NGB and water polo being better off apart than together. I have defended our Governing body on so many occasions as I am very aware of the consequences of having our own federation and the work that goes on within our Governing body to support the sport. However, Over the past 18months on too many occasions I have felt things coming to ahead and for the first time in my career as an athlete, coach and administrator for this sport I can no longer see how I can continue trying to break down barriers between us.
Water Polo and our Governing body are so far apart it will take a fundamental overhaul to build the bridges that are needed to pull us back together. I so hope I am wrong for the sake of the sport as right now it is in my opinion Water Polo is at the lowest point it has ever been and that breaks my heart. We need leadership urgently and all the time we have no leader we will continue to break down. Clubs, coaches and administrators will just form their own ideas on the way forward this will lead to chaos.
The Management group to which I was appointed following the Tunnicliffe report has changed since its inception and now I am one of the last remaining members to throw in the towel, following on from some amazing knowledgeable and talented people, like Phil Winstanley, Mike Jukes, Chris Dean, Simon Tinkler Davies, Mike Hesketh and others whom I have so much time and admiration for this group has diminished rapidly due to their resignations. Over the past 18 months to 2 years any recommendations we put forward are undermined by the office staff who make final decisions on the way forward within the sport. Unfortunately, fundamentally wrong decisions on so many occasions I feel I can no longer support any of their decisions going forward and therefore this makes my involvement with them untenable.
I have offered to continue with the latest pilot of the senior coach programme as at least I can leave the sport knowing all 3 of our formal qualifications are now up and running. However, that is up to the IOS as they may not wish to continue with this following my resignation.
I am very very sad today and I am sure I will remain so for many months to come.”
Eamonn explained, “The main reason for me making this decision is that in my opinion the group has moved away from its original role and in doing so has lost its purpose. Although I have had conversations with the relevant staff at Swim England and with others I no longer understand our role as there is no direct governance between our group and Swim Englands leadership of the sport.
I think that there is confusion within Swim England and British Swimming about the purpose of the group and how it should function, which has led to significant consternation within the water polo community. In my view the sport also lacks a clear vision and strategy in a number of areas with no obvious way for me to have a dialogue or to be able to input in a positive and constructive way and whilst this is the case I do not see this as good use of our time and energy.
For water polo to be successful there should be a joint approach between Swim England and British Swimming for the sport to maximise any opportunities for the sport and in my view this is not the case.
My intention is to continue supporting water polo in Manchester in the way that I have done for many years and if at a future time there is an interest from Swim England and British Swimming in developing a whole sport strategy then I will see if I am to get involved again at that time.”
On behalf of the England Water Polo community we would like to express our profound thanks for the hard work and dedication of Sarah and Eamonn, and acknowledge the enormous contribution that they have both made to our sport.
2 responses to “Sadly we now announce further resignations, this time from Swim England’s Water Polo Management Group”
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Neal Greenslade says:
There seems to be a common theme – Governance, Communication, Integrity, Accountability and Transparency – we seem to at a crossroads where the Water Polo world does not have faith that ‘management’ is making decisions for the good of Water Polo – perhaps it is the consequence of having management of a sport that is mostly self funded and therefore the ‘funders’ feel they have the right to question decisions. In addition perhaps the acceptance of Nepotism, Cronyism etc within the sport has not served us well and may well have contributed to the current malaise. To have good leadership you have to have vision and you have to be able to communicate that vision not in ridiculously long reports, communications and board meetings but in terms that individuals, clubs and parents can buy into! To move forward it would be nice if someone within SwimEngland, or elsewhere; with Water Polo solely on their agenda could now stand up and provide leadership preferably in a positive direction!
Leadership needs to come from the top to support and provide aspiration not only to the athletes but also the hundreds of selfless ‘volunteers’ who spend hundreds and hundreds of hours poolside, make them feel special rather than the current feeling of being very much second class citizens.
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Ngoc Tran says:
This is so sad and confusing to me. The government and water polo governing body seem to be recognising the importance of water polo and wanting to encourage more people getting involved (GCSE PE and grant for clubs) which is a huge achievement and evidence for the hard work that our coaches and management teams have been doing out of their true passion for the sport as volunteers. However as now that the sport is moving forward, we seem to be losing the best coaches and senior members in the management team. This is not just sad for the sport but I wonder who will take our sport forward which worries us about the future of our sport.
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There seems to be a common theme – Governance, Communication, Integrity, Accountability and Transparency – we seem to at a crossroads where the Water Polo world does not have faith that ‘management’ is making decisions for the good of Water Polo – perhaps it is the consequence of having management of a sport that is mostly self funded and therefore the ‘funders’ feel they have the right to question decisions. In addition perhaps the acceptance of Nepotism, Cronyism etc within the sport has not served us well and may well have contributed to the current malaise. To have good leadership you have to have vision and you have to be able to communicate that vision not in ridiculously long reports, communications and board meetings but in terms that individuals, clubs and parents can buy into! To move forward it would be nice if someone within SwimEngland, or elsewhere; with Water Polo solely on their agenda could now stand up and provide leadership preferably in a positive direction!
Leadership needs to come from the top to support and provide aspiration not only to the athletes but also the hundreds of selfless ‘volunteers’ who spend hundreds and hundreds of hours poolside, make them feel special rather than the current feeling of being very much second class citizens.
This is so sad and confusing to me. The government and water polo governing body seem to be recognising the importance of water polo and wanting to encourage more people getting involved (GCSE PE and grant for clubs) which is a huge achievement and evidence for the hard work that our coaches and management teams have been doing out of their true passion for the sport as volunteers. However as now that the sport is moving forward, we seem to be losing the best coaches and senior members in the management team. This is not just sad for the sport but I wonder who will take our sport forward which worries us about the future of our sport.