Cap tip Blair Setford:
By Tony Smith, Stuff.NZ
The fallout over Softball New Zealand’s call to sack Black Sox manager Doug Golightly overshadowed the national men’s team’s tournament victory in Canberra and successful winter tour of North America and the most encouraging performance by a New Zealand women’s softball team for 20 years.
The five-time world champion Black Sox rarely get the column centimetres their dazzling diamond skills deserve. But they were back in the spotlight for the first time since winning the world championships in Christchurch in 2004 after a Fairfax Sunday newspaper revealed team management had banned players from playing baseball.
The issue came to a head after three Black Sox squad members, vice-captain Brad Rona, his teenage son Pita and Auckland outfielder Ben Enoka, were rebuked for playing club baseball in Auckland and announcing plans to trial for the Diamond Blacks national team.
Initially, the spat was depicted as a classic case of softball v baseball. Sundry sports commentators who wouldn’t know a shortstop from their elbow began accusing softball of becoming too precious and that they should bow to the inevitable and allow baseball to become the main diamond sport.
The row was nothing of the sort. It transpired the trio had simply gone against a team protocol. The Black Sox’ own senior player leadership group – including Rona sr – had decided squad members should focus solely on softball in the lead up to the March 2013 world championships in Auckland.
As far as furores go, it should have been over in the time it takes Ben Enoka to scamper around the bases. But Softball New Zealand (SNZ) called an inquiry and sacked the messenger, Golightly, ostensibly for comments on national television that the Black Sox were “a dictatorship not a democracy”.
No-one knows what was said behind closed doors, SNZ officials and Golightly are keeping their own counsel on legal advice. But the punishment appeared manifestly excessive for the “crime”. The timing was also lousy. The axe was lowered just days before the Black Sox’s Canberra tour.
Golightly, a sports broadcaster with a colourful turn of phrase and a profound respect for the Black Sox tradition, got plenty of support from within the team with captain Rhys Casley and senior player Daniel Milne both going to bat for him publicly. The players showed their professionalism by sweeping through the Canberra Skins tournament unbeaten, beating the Australian world champions’ top two pitchers in the bargain.
But the spat is sure to simmer on with Softball New Zealand looking to appoint a new team manager in the New Year. Click here to read the entire story.