IN A sensational move by the Scottish Amateur Swimming Association,
Hammy Smith has been dismissed as Scotland's director of swimming.
The SASA announced yesterday that Smith's services had been terminated
from December 23. Bill Black, general secretary of the SASA, would not
elaborate any further than it was for reasons of ''conduct''.
The decision comes at the end of a troublesome year for the SASA. In
March, Smith and office manager Peter Barnett were put on suspension
after the publication of a report reviewing the sport's future
development in Scotland. The pair were reinstated after two months.
Smith, who swam for Paisley and Scotland in the 1950s, was Scotland's
chief coach at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, and, after spells coaching
in Canada and England, was appointed director of swimming on June 1,
1984.
At the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Jean Hill won two silver
medals and there was a bronze apiece for Ruth Gilfillan and Neil
Cochran. But, after controversy over team selection, the failure to take
a medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland marked the downturn
in Smith's and Scottish swimming's fortunes. At last summer's Olympics
in Barcelona, only two Scots made the British side.
The SASA now have to decide whether to appoint a new director, a chief
executive, or someone more involved with development. Already, there are
moves afoot to set up a project team headed by a professional consultant
from the Scottish Sports Council to look into the development and future
of Scottish swimming.
The SASA also announced yesterday a Scottish youth squad to take part
in the Open Winter Meet in Liverpool on January 30 and 31:
Boys: C Bain (Aberdeen), I Edmond (Reading), N Forster (Prestwick), E
Fraser (Dumfries Dolphins), I King (Cumbernauld), P Lindsay
(Haddington), C Miller (Scotia), C Pankhurst (City of Oxford).
Girls: F Campbell (Carnegie), H Dick (City of Bradford), L Drummond
(Aberdeen), K Hamilton (Killerwhales), K Hope, K Lawson (both City of
Dundee), K McCrone (East Kilbride), L McLuckie (Clackmannan District), S
McNeilly (Warrender), C Runge (St Thomas), H Searle (Renfrew District),
L Wight (Warrender).
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