Player rifts, bullying claims and parent vitriol: The New Zealand sporting body in crisis

Saturday, 6 June 2026

Richard Shine was ready to quit as chairman of Water Polo New Zealand almost as soon as he stepped into the role.

Instead, he knows he will have to act as the bad cop to enforce significant changes to the sport before he can step aside.

“The entire board discussed leaving en masse,” Shine says when asked about the turbulent fallout to claims of bullying within the New Zealand women’s team.

“And if we continue to come under personal attack then why would we stay? I have other issues in my life that cause problems and only so much bandwidth to deal with them.

“So why do it? Why stay? Well the mission hasn’t changed.”

Email the reporter: jim.kayes@stuffdigital.co.nz

That mission, for Shine, was to contribute to a sport he has no personal affiliation with, but that his son used to play and his daughter still does.

A lawyer, based in Auckland, he felt skills like his were missing on the board and that he had something to contribute. He did not expect to be the chair barely a year after joining, with predecessor Alex Howieson resigning in April, two days after 14 of the country’s 20 clubs wrote to the board, outlining their loss of trust and confidence in the governance and management of the sport.

Her deputy chair followed her out the door at the sport’s AGM soon after, with Shine left to pick up the pieces of a small sport thrust into the national limelight as its women’s team implodes.

And this week, long-time New Zealand women’s coach Angie Winstanley-Smith quit after her team became embroiled in controversy.

In a statement Winstanley-Smith said change was needed in the White Caps ahead of their campaign to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles: “I believe fresh leadership at this point will best support the athletes and staff as they prepare for the next stage of that journey.”

The Sport Integrity Commission is investigating claims of bullying within the women’s team stemming from an apparent rift between a group of senior and junior players during the five-week tour in Europe and Asia last year that culminated in the world championships in Singapore in July.

Alongside the bullying claims are an accusation of assault and broader claims of selection favouritism.

Shine said some parents also became disgruntled when their daughters weren’t picked to play on a tour they had to pay to go on. This pay-to-play is an issue for many small sports.

“It’s undeniable that that is a problem,” Shine said.

Issues with the women’s team are an ongoing issue. Shine was barely in his new role as chair when a letter was sent to the board and members of the media from a member of the team claiming the culture within the side was so toxic it almost killed her.

“Under no circumstances will I ever represent New Zealand again,” the woman said, with Shine accepting the sport has significant problems that need sorting.“

But here is the rub - the sorting will be done by volunteers, men and women who have day jobs and busy lives who now have to deal with the sort of issues corporate organisations have whole departments to look after.

And the number of people willing to give of their time is rapidly declining. A New Zealand Amateur Sport Association report found volunteers have steadily declined from a national average of 30 per club in 2018 to 17 in 2024.

Long-term board tenure is also steadily falling with those willing to be on a board longer than five years dropping from 64% in 2018 to 52% in 2024.

For now, Shine is willing to help despite the 20 hours a week he spends on water polo adding to an already busy job as a lawyer.

That’s despite the vitriol from parents and coaches that has included, among other slurs, a disgruntled parent accusing a coach of being a paedophile simply because the coach hadn’t picked that man’s child.

“The players are generally fine,” Shine says. “It’s the mums and dads who are the problem group by far.”

He said parents, and coaches have “a mismatch between expectation and reality” that creates “a toxic environment of double standards and hypocrisy”.

“We (the board) have to put up with vile and obnoxious interactions with parents. One parent called a coach a paedophile and thought nothing of it.

“The problem is the parents and coaches who are not here for the sport, they are here for themselves and have lost sight of the purpose of sport.”

So why stay?

“I still think I have the skillset to help, but I think I will have to be the bad cop and make some difficult decisions, move some people on and then once that is done and the reset occurs, it might be appropriate to step aside then.”

And another volunteer will have to step up.

Editor's note: Jim Kayes' nephew, Joseph Kayes, is the New Zealand men's water polo coach. This story was prepared independent of that relationship.