Netball Australia handling Super Netball debacles exposes lack of professionalism in the sport

A lack of professionalism in netball is a frustration that is felt all too often by those who love the sport, writes former Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander.

The level of professionalism at times in netball is a frustration felt by many of us who follow the game, as we question why the sport is still facing issues that have been of concern for many years.

The court surface saga in Adelaide and the umpiring and score bench debacle in Super Netball last weekend are not one-offs, these problems have been around for years and there were meant to be processes in place to ensure they would not happen again or become an issue for the integrity of the SSN competition.

The silence from Netball Australia immediately after the events (they have since reviewed and outlined actions on one of the incidents) was in stark contrast to how the AFL handled their siren issue on the weekend and shows the different level of professionalism when it comes to handling crises.

The AFL’s football director clearly and quickly explained what happened with authority to quickly shut down the debate on a heated topic.

Netball Australia took two days to do a review (and have still not finished) and issued wordy statements, rather than making someone accountable to the questions we all want answered and, also clarifying questions around the rest of the SSN Competition moving forward.

Players and fans were furious when Collingwood were dudded a centre pass

What happened last weekend will affect the finals for all teams in the SSN competition; who says the Queensland Firebirds can’t go on a run of wins at this early stage of the competition, how will the Giants or the Lightning feel if they miss out on the final four or a home final based on percentage to the Vixens?

Super Netball is such a close competition and every point matters.

While the World Netball rules are clear on the umpiring/score bench issue – I think the rules of the competition should and could be changed, in light of what happened in Adelaide.

Umpiring decisions and errors can’t be changed now and this is the problem regarding the Magpies v Vixens match and those wishing to replay the match.

I do, however, think that situations like what happened in Adelaide should involve a replayed match in a neutral venue.

DECAL DEBACLE

Slippery decals on the court have been a problem that has been happening for 30 odd years now. So why is this still an issue in 2023?

I know at International level, the court surface is a big deal and we would go out and check them before every game, and it is always a concern that someone is going to slip on them.

Surely considering today’s elite playing standards we should be able to use lighting on

courts for branding or logos being digitally added on the broadcast. We need to look at every option available because the last thing we want is another game lost like last weekend or even worse a major injury to any of our players.

Fixing old stadiums and their transformers is not so easy! Back up generators being required is perhaps a contingency to investigate.

STATE OF DELAY

Why is South Australia the only state that hasn’t got a new netball stadium? Politically that is just wrong.

With so many governments seeing the value in women’s sport, questions need to be asked why the South Australian government has not seen netball to be a big enough sport to warrant investment in a modern stadium for Netball?

There has been money for other infrastructure (Adelaide Oval upgrade), so maybe the problem is that netball is not seen as a high enough priority for the SA Government?

This comes back to the perceived level of professionalism of our league by those in government and corporate Australia and our ability to grow the game in partnership.

Fans hold torches as a power cut affects parts of the stadium in Adelaide

UMPIRE PRESSURE

Clearly there has not been enough investment in umpiring in Netball in Australia, we all agree when comparing to the NRLs and AFLs of the Australian sporting landscape.

However, getting the Centre Pass right is a fundamental principle of our game which relies on the equal possession concept.

To be fair to on court umpires, they are very busy doing what they’re doing that clearly the of moving a ring on your hand or scrunchie on your wrist to know who has the next possession is not always helpful with the speed of the game. That is why the score bench keeps a tally of centre passes just for this particular situation.

Don’t forget the SSN competition made a directive at the start of the season about time wasting between a goal being scored and the centre pass to prevent the GS and the GK from having a tussle under the goal ring, so that has made the umpire’s job even harder and put more pressure on them to keep the ball moving and in play.

The Thunderbirds and Swifts embrace as the match is abandoned due to a power issue

The umpires are both part of our best in this country and they will make errors, as did the score bench in this situation.

Netball Australia has addressed the first issue that an error was made and that the score bench should have intervened to inform the umpires of the error.

This does not, however, stop the Umpire nearest to the score bench from stopping play to check if the centre pass sequence was correct when it was queried by the Magpies Coach and a player on court.

That is what should have happened in this event, and World Netball Rules reiterate that umpires can decide on any matter not covered by the rules, and this was such a situation.

There are many reasons and thoughts as to why this may not have happened, some people are blaming the Supershot and were the umpires given a directive about not engaging with coaches in the final minutes of each quarter as part of the concept of not holding up the game concept?

The point is that it was an error and should have been corrected.

As coaches and players are accountable for their performance, so should our umpires and bench officials at this level be accountable, this has nothing to do with resourcing in my opinion.

We will never know the outcome of the match now, and what is fair and what is important for the integrity of the competition is that it does not get repeated.

But I don’t know if netball has the determination and transparency to do that, and that is part of the problem too.