WHEN our virtually anonymous Sports Minister – anonymous compared to the forthright and frank Senator David Burch – eventually steps down, it's unfortunate that he will be remembered only for two gaffes.

The first, of course, was his interference in the Annual Sports Awards, appointing his own choice of Male Athlete of the Year, rather taking the advice of the committee which was set up solely to consider who was the most worthy recipient.

It mattered not that Minister Glenn Blakeney knew absolutely nothing about racquets, the chosen sport of his candidate.

With no disrespect to Blakeney's selection, James Stout won his world championship by beating one player in a minority sport played by very few. Granted, Stout was the very best in his sport.

Now the Minister made another blunder.

His decision to build a concrete bathtub on a plot of land which had been reserved for an aquatics centre is, at the very least, arrogant and disrespectful to those for whom it is being built.

Flying in the face of recommendations made by the governing body, the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) and the Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST), he's decided to plough more money than is necessary into a facility which will drain the taxpayer of hard earned cash in a period of economic turmoil.

He's made what many believe is an ill-informed decision to build a far more expensive and less efficient pool that will be of little benefit to either local swimmers or potential competitors who would have flown from overseas to compete.

His reasoning is that what is known as the Myrtha pool, which had been proposed by BASA, and endorsed by BEST, might rust and in the long term might be more expensive than his concrete pool.

Of course, nothing could be further than the truth.

The Myrtha model has been chosen by hundreds of swimming clubs and colleges over the years, and so far none have shown any sign of rust. It's worth noting they come with a 30-year warranty.

So where exactly did he and Chairman of the NSC Board of Trustees, Sean Tucker, get their advice? Who knows? They've never given a sensible explanation.

BASA recommended a lap/diving pool as well as the main pool. Without those additions, the local swimmer would be hard pressed to develop their talent and we'd never be able to groom a successful diver, let alone bring in the top competitors from overseas.

Almost all of the Bermuda swimmers who have enjoyed success in meets such as the Olympics, Commomwealth Games and Pan-Am Games, have had to train and compete in other countries. Kiera Aitken and Roy-Allen Burch, currently our leading swimmers, do just that, Aitken in Barcelona and Burch in the US.

When Mr. Blakeney visits the Commonwealth Games in India in a couple of weeks – if it goes ahead – he might want to talk to our swimmers about his proposal.

He can expect a straightforward answer from Burch, the same man who was denied the Athlete of the Year Award because of the Minister's arbitrary decision to overrule his committee.

Myrtha pools are known to be less expensive to maintain and more efficient than concrete pools. And, of course, they are far cheaper to buy. That's a proven fact.

The concrete pool will, at the last estimation, cost $15 million. Myrtha can be obtained and installed for much less.

The Sports Minister has been quoted as saying he was "quite satisfied" with the amount of money to be spent on his chosen facility.

Just recently Mr. Tucker said he was "extremely pleased" that work was about to begin.

Those involved with Bermuda swimming believe that both are out of touch.

Neither have any experience in the construction of aquatic centres. BASA do.

But their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

It could well turn out that the proposed NSC facility will be another white elephant, even it will be an Olympic-sized 50 metre, multi-lane pool.

The fact that major international meets are unlikely to take place because those from overseas will consider the facility inadequate doesn't seem to have been consisdered.

And who knows when this hole in the ground will be finally filled with cement. The NSC itself is far from complete And there's little suggestion that this latest Government project will not follow suit.

The project makes little sense given the information available. But then neither did Mr. Blakeney's last decision.

– ADRIAN ROBSON