Netball World Cup rocked by ‘mutiny’ as team ‘blame’ goal shooter in ‘dirty laundry’ video

A “mutiny” has emerged in the at the Netball World Cup, as a star player was blamed by her own team as they “aired their dirty laundry”.

Malawi’s playing group have taken a public swipe at their own star goal shooter in a bizarre subplot to the early stages of the Netball World Cup.

Malawi, ranked sixth in the world, opened their campaign with a win over Scotland before losing to England 62-39 in their second game.

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But the Malawi camp were frustrated they couldn’t make it a closer game against England as Mwai Kumwenda reportedly refused to take the court on Saturday.

After the peculiar decision not to have Kumwenda start the game, Malawi’s coach asked her to come off the bench with two minutes left in the first half.

She stayed on the bench until the last quarter, but England had opened up a 19-goal lead by then.

It appears there is a big disagreement going on in the Malawi Queens camp, as the captain Jane Chimaliro and members of the team have taken to social media to shift the blame for their loss against England to Vixens shooter Mwai Kumwenda who is not present in the video. #NWC2023pic.twitter.com/ZPwepSUSy0

— Brittany Carter (@_BrittanyCarter) July 30, 2023

For those wondering about Mwai Kumwenda's lack of appearance against England tonight, I put it to Malawi head coach Sam Kanyenda. He said the decision was tactical. The plan was to inject her halfway through as an impact but then things changed and he opted not to.#NWC2023

— Chloe Merrell (@chloe_merrell) July 29, 2023

The goal shooter’s teammates posted a video to social media appearing to blame the Melbourne Vixens star for the loss to England. Kumwenda did not appear in the video.

Kumwenda said after the game she didn’t come on to the court because she didn’t believe she had enough time to properly warm up to enter the game at the coach’s just before halftime.

“I was doing my warm up,” the 33-year-old said.

“But coach has got his own plans. I was just excited to see the other girls playing today.

“It was two minutes so I couldn’t get in. Two minutes is hard, professional player like me is very hard. I need to warm up and have more time.”

Fox Netball’s Hannah Hollis described it as “a mutiny within the Malawi camp”.

Joyce Mvula of Malawi in the loss to England at the Netball World Cup (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Netball World Cup 2023 via Getty Images)

Commentator Sue Gaudion explained: “The Malawi Queens have come out on Twitter and based off the loss to England yesterday, almost blaming Mwai Kumwenda for the fact that she was asked to take the court just shy of the halftime time break and refused to come on court.

“They’re not happy. There’s obviously some distrust or a fallout in the camp.”

Australian Diamond Madi Browne added: “It’s obviously sad to see them go to Twitter and air this dirty laundry in a way.

“The coach stated ‘We want to use her as an impact player, we don’t always want to start her in the game’.

“She was asked to come on two minutes before the halftime break but didn’t. We know she’s a superstar player, we know she loves to play. So it’s a little bit confusing. There’s two sides to the story.”

Diamonds legends Cath Cox and Caitlin Bassett weren’t impressed by Kumwenda’s warm up explanation and said the whole saga was “embarrassing”.

Cox said: “A professional athlete, your coach tells you to get on the court with two minutes to go, you get on the court.

“If that was a world cup final, the teams are even, there’s a minute left, the coach says get on the court — is she going to say no, there’s not enough time to warm up. That shocked me and “I’m not at all happy to hear that coming from her because I thought she was much better than that.

“How do they let alone play the game, but get on the team bus after what’s taken place publicly? I think this is all really embarrassing for Malawi.

“It needs to be sorted out because she is their best player. They need her on board and playing well for them to get any wins up.”

Mwai Kumwenda was hung out to dry by her Malawi teammates. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Bassett said: “Talk about disruptive and distracting for this team.

“When the teammates come out and blame a loss on a single player, it’s really serious. I’ve never ever seen anything like this.

“Could you imagine turning around to (former Australian coach) Norma Plummer and saying no when she said to get out on court?”

Malawi’s Netball Association released a statement confirming Kumwenda would start Sunday night’s must win game against Barbados.

“We have noted with concern the unfortunate development in the Queens camp currently in circulation on social media,” the statement read.

“We have our next game today against Barbados and the players are ready to die for mother Malawi.”

Australia’s Diamonds defeated Fiji 101-32 to top Pool A with three comfortable wins to start their campaign.

Originally published as Netball World Cup rocked by ‘mutiny’ as team ‘blame’ goal shooter in ‘dirty laundry’ video