Netball Australia sponsorship crisis: Anthony Mundine accuses Gina Rinehart of $15m cop out

Anthony Mundine has backed Donnell Wallam’s refusal to wear a Hancock Mining logo and called out the subconscious racism and white values of a minority of Australians.

Boxing and NRL legend Anthony Mundine has strongly defended netballer Donnell Wallam’s stance that cost her sport $15 million in sponsorship money, and urged her Australian teammates to remain supportive as he expects to see pressure on them to turn against the Diamonds debutant.

Netball Australia is in crisis after the nation’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, pulled her $15 million sponsorship deal, after a dispute with the Diamonds who initially did not want to wear the Hancock Prospecting logo during their upcoming series against England out of respect to Wallam.

Wallam eventually agreed she would wear the logo after crisis talks last Friday, but by the next morning Rinehart cancelled the $3.5m a year deal citing the bitter relationship between Netball Australia and the players.

Wallam, just the third Indigenous player selected to represent Australia’s national netball team, had expressed concern about the deal given reprehensible comments made by Rinehart’s father Lang Hancock, that some Aboriginal people should have their water poisoned to breed them out of existence.

Anthony Mundine has called on Diamonds players to rally around Donnell Wallam. Source: Instagram

“What if someone from the Aboriginal community had said that about a group of white people, that we should poison their waters? What would the reaction be?” Mundine said.

“Anyone that thinks like him, speaks like him, believes what he believes, is detrimental to humankind.

“Donnell should stay strong and stay staunch in her beliefs, because they are the right beliefs.

“Lang Hancock, when I saw that video, it’s absolutely disgusting.

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“She could have apologised for her father’s comments, distanced herself from them and told us that she doesn’t believe those things. Instead, she pulled her money out.

“All the netballers, they need to be staunch and stick behind Donnell, because they’re going to try to turn them against her.

“It’s the old divide and conquer routine.

Anthony Mundine says nothing will change unless the country confronts the past. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“But I truly hope that God forgives [Hancock] and blesses his soul.

“We should be living in peace and harmony, and working together and learning to own your actions.”

Hancock, who died in 1992, said in a television interview discussing “the Aboriginal problem” in the 1980s: “The ones that are no good to themselves, can’t accept things, the half-castes – and this is where most of the trouble comes – I would dope the water up so they become sterile and would breed themselves out in future.

“And that would solve the problem.”

Gina Rinehart pulled her Netball Australia funding. Picture: AAP/Dave Hunt

Rinehart herself has made no public comments about the sponsorship saga, although her company issued two statements over the weekend taking aim at the disunity in netball and the “virtue signalling” by sports teams.

“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,” the statement said.

There has been some strong reaction against the netballers, given the sport is in dire need of financial aid, but Mundine said that is not the most important aspect.

“That’s just a cop out to take away from the core issue we are talking about,” Mundine said.

“There’s two systems, two laws. They always talk about closing the gap, but the gap will never be closed if we allow comments like (Lang) Hancock’s to go unchallenged because there is money on the table.

“Some Australians who have grown up with white values … they are subconsciously racist, to the point where they don’t even know they are.

“It’s sad. It’s all about education, and I do think it’s getting better nowadays. There are people on the right side, but we’ve still got a long way to go.

“Twenty years ago, when I was in prime in footy and then boxing, I was saying this stuff one-out. Some of our brothers and sisters have got to banding together, and not just them, but the people, the masses are starting to band together and see through the cracks.

“I just hope that Donnell knows that there are a lot more people behind her than what she may think. She has taken a strong stand, an important stand, and that shows the courage of her convictions.”

Originally published as Netball Australia sponsorship crisis: Anthony Mundine accuses Gina Rinehart of $15m cop out