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).