Cap tip Blair Setford.
By TONY SMITH
Fairfax has confirmed Golightly’s contract was terminated after a disciplinary hearing on Thursday evening.
Softball New Zealand general manager Dane Dougan declined to comment last night. He had earlier refused to say if Golightly would still be involved in the Black Sox’s tour to Canberra next week. “SNZ are still working through a process and we are not in a position to comment,” he said.
Golightly also would not comment after legal advice.
But Canterbury’s Daniel Milne, a member of the Black Sox leadership group, said he “totally backed Doug Golightly to the hilt” and was disappointed at the outcome. “New Zealand Softball asked [the Black Sox management] to deal with the [baseball] situation and they dealt with it. Obviously, New Zealand Softball isn’t happy with the way it went down. To me, it looks like they set up Doug [as a scapegoat].”
Golightly was asked to answer a charge of bringing the sport into disrepute over his reported comments on TV3 this week that the management of the Black Sox was a dictatorship, not a democracy.
The row erupted after three Black Sox squad members, vice-captain Brad Rona, his son, Pita, and outfielder Ben Enoka, played club baseball in Auckland despite a memorandum from Golightly, on behalf of coaches Eddie Kohlhase and Dave Workman, stating only players exclusively committed to softball would be considered for the 2013 world championships in Auckland.
Milne said the policy was decided by the management and players’ leadership group. “We totally support it. You’ve got to choose between one [sport] or the other.”
Milne said Golightly had proved “a great manager” since taking over last year. Black Sox captain Rhys Casley was unavailable for comment last night. Click to continue reading.