Aths Aust CEO resigns

[kitkat1]

@stilljd_5

I honestly can’t see how the CEO can be held personally responsible when they are paid to implement what the board tell them to. I can remember a CEO of an athletics organization once telling me it would not be in the best interest of athletics to take sponsorship away from local clubs, a week later you’d never guess what the board did.

David Culbert gets a fair rap in your post, isn’t he still employed by AA as their media, now a contractor, surely now has more control over what he says and does, wasn’t he was also the media for the Stawell gift this year, over the years there would have been a lot of stuff ups at major events, this year the Stawell bad bits made the media. I can remember a young Jana Pittman was looking for a qualifier for her first World Champs, Glendale and I was the yellow tech shirt, one of my helpers tried to put out hurdles on the track for the 400m hurdles and was stopped by an unknown person, Jana’s time was disallowed because 1 flight of hurdles was not there, didn’t make the media, what did was Jai Taurima going to the Newcastle Workers Club, having a drink and cigarette while playing the pokies.

I see the same coaches in the same positions, doing the same things they did 25 years ago when I first join athletics. I hear of athletes still being persuaded to go to these same coaches, their current coaches do not go overseas they simply give up coaching, I know how they feel, nothing much has changed. I hear of clubs being given thousands of dollars of equipment they either did not want or did not meet competition rules, wasted sponsorship money.

I guess I can do nothing except keep on trying to put the best equipment available into the hands of developing athletes and their coaches, Dani Samuels was among the group as is Taylah Sengul who is breaking Dani’s records, bet she will change coaches in the near future and Julian Wruck who holds the Aust U20 discus record, currently in a uni in the US and throwing over 60m, hopefully he has a good comp in Perth next week.

Ok I had my whinge time to get back to trying to survive in a sport that has too many self interest groups. Hugs and kisses to all.

Dear JD,

David Culbert was dumped by AA a year ago.

He handles marketing and media for Stawell Gift and a couple of bicycling races etc.

Aty Stawell this year, over one weekend, his work basically generated $800,000 for Stawell etc and the medai was out of all proportion to the calibre of athletes at the meet. Live television, coverage every day in virtually every newspaper for a week or two prior, build mainly around pole vaulter Steve Hooker’s participation.

By comparison the Sydney and Melbourne Track Classic got very little space because the editors decided the stories their reporters submitted were basically boring. Culbert might have helped that, in fact he did by making his main athlete client, Mr Hooker, available for a half day for media prior to both Sydney and Melbourne.

Culbert does no piece meal work for AA. They are too dumb to realse they need him. He could do the media and marketing rolled into one job and AA would make a fortune.

I’ve heard Hooker plans to go for the world record in Perth. But the only media activity planned by AA for Hooker in Perth is on Thursday morning. None of the major media from interstate will be there until Thursday night at the earliest.

What a larf it all is …kk