ROLE MODELS? Physical education lecturer Dr Barrie Gordon has misgivings about elite sports stars and their elevation to high profile public positions.

Dame Susan Devoy's appointment as race relations commissioner should spark debate about the hold elite athletes and sport have over the nation's values, an academic says.

Victoria University health and physical education lecturer Dr Barrie Gordon has serious misgivings about the "almost mystical belief" invested in sports stars and their elevation to - and suitability for - high-profile public positions.

A former representative rugby league and softball player, Dr Gordon said there were "serious questions" about whether former world champion squash player Dame Susan was "the right person for the job".

SQUASH PLAYER: Dame Susan Devoy

Sport was not a shortcut to developing the "knowledge, experience and wisdom required in positions such as that of the race relations commissioner", he said.

The consideration of netballer Irene van Dyk and former All Black Michael Jones for the job proved top sportspeople were "put on a pedestal".

Although Jones turned down the job and Dame Susan was the second choice, Gordon said shortlisting three sportspeople "could not have happened without a strong underpinning belief that the lessons learned on the sports field prepare people to excel in areas that have no obvious relationship to sport".

JULIAN RAETHEL/ Fairfax NZ RUGBY PLAYER: Michael Jones

"We have an almost religious belief that sport is inherently good but the reality is that sport can be both good and bad - it depends on the coaches, the culture and the values being espoused."

Van Dyk said criticism of Dame Susan's appointment unfairly tarnished the credibility of the interviewing panel, made up of Ministry of Defence chief executive Helene Quilter, NZ Post chief executive Brian Roche and Secretary for Justice Andrew Bridgman.

Elite athletes often did have the skills to take on demanding public roles because playing top-level sport required "dedication, sacrifice, commitment and discipline - it has to count for something", she said.

MARK TAYLOR/ Fairfax NZ NETBALLER: Irene Van Dyk

Justice Minister Judith Collins has defended criticisms she made a celebrity appointment in choosing Dame Susan but Green party co-leader Metiria Turei said, by making the appointment, Collins was trying to undermine the office of the race relations commissioner.

"We are yet to see if the minister was successful and that will be the test for Dame Susan Devoy," Turei said.

Widespread belief that playing sport was character building, fostered leadership skills, teamwork and positive socialisation was eroded by "the seemingly never ending procession of sports people behaving in the most anti-social ways", Gordon said.

From college level up, top athletes were often given preferential treatment and there was a public perception that sportspeople accused of crimes were handled softly or "got a better deal" in the courts.

There was also a misplaced expectation that athletes, no matter how young, were default role models, such as 22-year-old All Black winger Julian Savea, who was charged last month with assaulting his partner, Gordon said.

Waikato University sport and leisure student Gloria Clarke agreed that the notion of sport as a "silver bullet" for social ills needed to be questioned.

Clarke's son was jailed at the age of 19 after playing sport for most of his life - his incarceration inspired her master's thesis "Why do youth step out of sport and into court?"

Ex-All Black and former race relations conciliator Chris Laidlaw said the "cardinal mistake" people made was "turning sports heroes into role models for everything else".

Although surprised by Dame Susan's appointment he said he was disappointed at the criticisms levelled at her. The role took "strength of character" and he said Dame Susan should be given a chance to prove herself.