The Auckland Trotting Club has been caught out making a number of incorrect and misleading claims on its website over the escalating dispute with the New Zealand Trotting Hall Of Fame.
Two days after serving the Hall Of Fame with an eviction notice, its statement headed “What’s really going on” attempts to paint a picture of a united club moving against an organisation unwilling to negotiate.
But the reality of what transpired at the annual general meeting and what was said by under-fire ATC president Jamie MacKinnon and his board is vastly different.
Friday’s statement, believed to have been written by MacKinnon, details how the board told members it proposed “repurposing” the Hall Of Fame building and moving the collection inside the club’s rooms.
ERROR 1: Vice-president and acting CEO Rod Croon actually said: The club requires the land for future parking.”
The statement says the site occupied by the Hall of Fame “is prime club real estate” and an indication of the club’s thinking follows when it reveals an engineering report is being done on the building to see how transportable it is.
MacKinnon goes on to say in the statement that the members gave their overwhelming support to the club’s proposal.
ERROR 2: Only two members spoke, both liking the idea of moving memorabilia into the grandstand for all to see. No vote was taken so how can the club say the members gave it a mandate to proceed, especially when only about 120 attended, one quarter of its membership?
The statement says the Hall Of Fame committee has expressed no desire to work with the club, a claim also made by Croon at the meeting.
ERROR 3: The club has not engaged with the Hall Of Fame committee for nearly two years and at the Hall Of Fame’s last meeting with then CEO Mauro Barsi in January, 2021, the committee clearly agreed to further talks. That meeting was recorded.
MacKinnon says in the statement he hopes common sense will prevail and that the Hall of Fame committee will engage with them to enable a smooth transition of relocating memorabilia inside the club.
Planning was underway to display the collection in the Alex Café, and the Elsu and Lyell Creek rooms, he said.
Given the size and value of the collection and the fact cups went missing last time they were displayed there, the Hall Of Fame has indicated that is not an option.
The Alex Bar was also recently broken into, only serving to underline fears about security.
The statement claims it was announced at the October AGM that the Hall Of Fame would be looking to send all of the memorabilia back to the clubs and people who had donated them.
ERROR 4: Nobody from the Hall Of Fame made any such statement. There are thousands of items in the collection which the Hall Of Fame committee is determined not to break up.
MacKinnon gets one thing right in the statement, which corrects a false claim made repeatedly by Croon at the AGM that the club had repaid the $650,000 given by Noel Taylor to build the museum. Taylor never wanted repayment and a codicil in his will confirmed that.
Show your opposition to the ATC’s eviction notice and help save the New Zealand Trotting Hall Of Fame by signing the petition on the link below.