Netball World Cup 2023: Diamonds players will get no pay and no bonus despite winning

Despite winning the Netball World Cup the Diamonds will get paid nothing exposing the massive disadvantage female athletes are facing.

Australia’s netball stars will not receive any payment for lifting the most prestigious trophy in the sport with prize money still not on offer for winning the World Cup.

Less than 24 hours before the Matildas’ round of 16 victory at the football World Cup ensured every player would walk away with at least $135,000 for making the quarter-finals, the Diamonds’ World Cup win added not a single cent to the bank accounts of players.

World Netball offers no prizemoney for its flagship competition, while the Diamonds’ player contracts with Netball Australia also do not include bonus payments for the World Cup win.

Netball is lagging behind the times and it’s a worrying sign for the sport.

It’s not a case of the world body refusing to share its riches - it just has none.

That’s not a position that’s about to change anytime soon.

World Netball President Dame Liz Nicholl’s oft-repeated mantra at a press conference at the World Cup last week was that the body was “rich in people resource but poor in financial resource”.

That might be the truth but it’s hardly something that’s worth revelling in as netball powers seem to be doing.

While the sport has a special place as one created by women for women, in an environment in which women’s sport is becoming ever more professional in both its outlook and its commercial activities, netball is in in danger of being left behind.

Australia celebrate during the Netball World Cup

Nicholl’s answer to a reporter’s question last week about how netball could compete with sporting powerhouses like football, cricket and rugby who use some of the income from their men’s competitions to subsidise the cost of their women’s programs seemed stunningly naïve.

“To be perfectly honest I’m encouraging the netball community to celebrate the growth of women’s sport and the support that women’s sport is getting from those major governing bodies,” Nicholl said.

“I don’t see it personally as a threat, I think there’s room for those opportunities for women and girls across all of those sports.

“We are still growing as a governing body, we’re growing within nations, we’re growing in a number of nations.

“So there is no indication at this point in time that it is a threat - and I’m smiling because many of us that play netball, when we were young, we would have loved to have had a choice - and now young women and girls have got a choice.

“And I’m confident that a significant number will continue to choose netball because of our values as a sport and the culture that they will enjoy when they join at netball club.”

It’s a pretty first-world argument.

If a cricket player or footballer can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars playing in competitions around the world - as well as share in prizemoney available in major tournaments - netball stands little chance winning the popularity contest.

The FIFA World Cup is a perfect example.

The amount of money players will receive - even for teams knocked out in the first round (AUD $44,000) - is lifechanging.

Australia

NOTHING NEW

While a lack of prizemoney and bonus payment may leave some onlookers aghast, former Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander said the expectation from players would have been zero – whether that’s right or wrong is a different issue.

“For the Diamonds prizemoney has never been part of the thinking; at the end of the day the sport can’t afford it,” Alexander said.

“In 2015 the big thing was to make the most of our time in the spotlight and the players understood this. We were on the cusp of a major sponsor and victory at the World Cup was about making the most of our notoriety.

“Diamonds players through their own personal sponsorships and ambassadorial roles may receive bonuses too.”

After winning the 2019 World Cup, New Zealand’s sponsors were so shocked at the lack of prizemoney that they collectively raised $300,000 to secure a$25,000 bonus payment per per player.

For now it seems the Diamonds are in no such position.

“Netball Australia has to use this win to attract those kinds of sponsors,” Alexander added. “England and New Zealand are way ahead in this regard, the Roses will probably get something for reaching the final.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if a sponsor reads this and comes up with something. Fortuitously we have a government sponsor so whether they can stump up is a question mark.

Australia wont get a penny for their win

REST OF THE WORLD

Forget Australia for a minute. While it would be nice for the Diamonds to receive some sort of monetary bonus for their efforts, they are at least all professional athletes who play in the world’s best competition and are paid to pursue their sport full-time.

Other countries have made enormous strides this week but without an injection of funding - either to players or their federation, or preferably to both - that can change quickly.

Jamaica finished in the medals for the first time in 16 years - but that came after they launched a GoFundMe campaign to get to the championships.

South African players had been promised bonuses for a strong placing in the first edition of the tournament in Africa and while they drew with New Zealand in a stunning preliminary round result, ultimately fell to Uganda in the playoff for fifth in a display of the new depth in the sport.

There will be some rewards from the World Cup though.

“This World Cup has the best combination ever of sponsorship and international broadcast sales, so it’s been a real step up for World Netball and the World Cup,” Nicholl said.

World Netball CEO Clare Briegal said what income derived from the World Cup was “redeployed” back to regions who decided how best to use the money.

“We are doing what we can with the limited money that we do have but obviously the commercial success of this event means that we can do more than we ever have before.”

Those funds will not flow to players but should at least drive programs that either increase participation or competitiveness among minnow nations.

The least that should be expected in four years’ time is a pay to play model.

Under the current scheme, not only are the players not receiving prize money, many of them are left out of pocket playing for their country, having to raise funds just to attend the tournament.

The least that should be expected by 2027 when countries assemble in Sydney is that they haven’t had to use vital funds or launch GoFundMe campaigns to play in the sport’s pinnacle tournament.

Failing to do this will only leave netball behind.

Originally published as Netball World Cup 2023: Diamonds players will get no pay and no bonus despite winning