Gina Rinehart / Netball Australia $15m sponsorship fiasco shows sport and politics don’t mix | Paul Starick

Elite netballers should consider their impact on grassroots sport when using their profile to play politics, Paul Starick writes.

Sport and politics rarely mix well. Netball’s financial fiasco triggered by the withdrawal of Gina Rinehart’s $15m sponsorship deal is yet another example.

Elite netballers should consider the impact on grassroots sport when they use their profile and platform to play politics.

The actions and opinions of prominent sportspeople have significant influence, particularly among young people who hope to emulate their success.

They are, of course, entitled to their opinions and to express them. But the reported actions elite netballers are a case study in the perils of sports people playing politics.

The end result is netball’s already dire financial position is imperilled. A sport under pressure from the well-funded AFL, among others, is resorting to hollow promises amounting to continuing the way things have been.

This will hardly reassure grassroots players and junior parents who watch a great sport be overshadowed for profile, marketing and resources.

The reported reason for this saga effectively amounts to the sins of Ms Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, being visited upon his daughter.

Gina Rinehart, also executive chairman of pastoral firm S. Kidman & Co. Picture: Supplied

Ms Rinehart’s firm, Hancock Prospecting, announced on Saturday it would “regrettably withdraw” its proposed partnerships with Netball Australia and Netball WA, after revelations last weekend that Diamonds players had concerns about wearing a team uniform that included Hancock sponsorship branding.

The first line of a Hancock Prospecting statement issued on Saturday morning reads: “Hancock and its executive chairman Mrs Rinehart consider that it is unnecessary for sports organisations to be used as the vehicle for social or political causes.”

Indigenous player Donnell Wallam, who is line to make her Diamonds debut in the upcoming series against England, was said to be uncomfortable wearing a uniform with the Hancock Prospecting logo, reportedly due to comments made by Ms Rinehart’s father Lang Hancock in the 1980s.

He infamously suggested in 1984 that indigenous Australians should be sterilised to “breed themselves out” in coming years.

Netball Australia is now $15m worse off, having already lost more than $7m in the past two years. Chief executive Kelly Ryan on Sunday said she was “reasonably concerned” about the financial position.

Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan

Asked how grassroots netball would be affected, Ms Ryan said Netball Australia “still (needs) to continue to deliver the sport in the way we have”.

“We will continue to make sure we focus on all aspects and grassroots is obviously incredibly important to us,” she said.

Ultimately, there were no winners in this saga. Elite netballers reportedly expressing their views have cost their sport millions.

Mrs Rinehart, a substantially self-made woman and generous philanthropist, has had her name dragged through the mud because of comments made by her late father almost 40 years ago.

And a sport enjoyed by generations is left to bleed financially, which must put junior development and other grassroots programs at some risk.