‘Am I at the Gabba?’ Blockbuster clash delayed TWICE by ‘unsafe’ court, power outage

Netball’s most bizarre game ever was derailed by two huge problems - then it ended in extremely ‘unfortunate’ circumstances.

There’s been high drama at Saturday’s Adelaide Thunderbirds clash against the NSW Swifts with the game declared a draw at half time due to “very unfortunate circumstances”.

The match simply ran out of time in the allocated two-hour period after a pre-game delay for an unsafe court and then a power outage.

“It’s disappointing. A power outage has got us,” Netball Australia’s head of integrity Nicole Malcher said.

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“Earlier today we had to delay the match (for the unsafe surface) … we extended it to allow up to complete the match in the 120 minutes.

“Because we’ve extended it into that time, we don’t have enough time to complete it within the session time window (after the power outage) so we do have to declare the match as at half time.

“So both teams will have two points from the game.”

The draw was a stunning end to what was the most bizarre game ever seen in Super Netball.

The drama started earlier on Saturday when the court was deemed unsafe to play on.

Officials were seen discussing the surface before the decision was made to delay the match.

“The first delay was alright because we actually got to play afterwards,” Swifts star Helen Housby said.

“We played cards backstage.

“It’s so frustrating honestly.

“No one likes to have a draw even if you play 60 minutes. But to have a draw and not have been able to have an opportunity to win the game is actually really sad.

“There was some emotion in the changeroom.

“Every single point counts.

“Obviously there is nothing we can do.”

Netball officials at Netball SA Stadium determined the advertising decals did not offer the same court consistency, leaving the match delayed for an hour.
Vision showed Netball Australia officials on the phone as players, umpires and staff all regularly shuffled across the surface.

“Talk about drama, there’s been a lot of drama,” Fox Netball’s Bianca Chatfield said.

The Netball SA Stadium surface was not deemed safe for players to play on.

“It was flagged with Nicole Malcher – she’s the head of integrity and head of legal counsel at Netball Australia – that the court was deemed unsafe or not ready to be played on and more work needed to be done on the surface.

“We’ve had everybody out on court.

“The umpires were taking a look. It was all about the decals and whether they had the same surface area as what was on the court.

“(Coach) Briony Akle came out, the Swifts came out, the Thunderbirds came out.

“We were all waiting to hear if this game could go ahead.

“Netball Australia ticked every box and checked everything.

“Before every single game the court has to be deemed safe.”

What followed was bizarre scenes with every decal ripped off the court by hand as staff then got to work smoothing out the surface.

“Everything has been changed,” Chatfield said.

“(Even) the super shot line has had to be added back on.

“Everyone was trying to problem solve it all.”

The Thunderbirds thank the fans as the match is abandoned due to a power issue. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

Former Giants defender Sam Poolman said while players from both sides would have been unsettled by the delay, the 2020 Covid hub had them well prepared.

“I was talking to (Swift) Maddy Proud going, ‘is this the hub all over again?’,” she questioned.

“Those two seasons were all about being adaptive and going with the flow.

“Teams just going, you know what? This is a situation we can’t control. What can we do?

“Get together as a group, take your mind off the situation.

“You don’t want to overthink that.”

Play eventually began after the hour’s delay but was once again halted due to a power outage after half time.

With scores locked at 25-all, players were forced to wait a second time as the court was bathed in darkness.

“Am I at the Gabba or Netball SA Stadium?” Thunderbirds coach Tania Obst said.

“We’ve been thrown everything!

“The girls have headed back into the changeroom keeping warm.”

Fans in the crowd had their phone lights out as the scenes were eerily similar to the light outage at the Gabba in the AFL on Friday night.

“Surely you have to have a bit of a laugh don’t you?” Poolman said as the crowd sung along to Darryl Braithwaite’s Horses as the court lights remained out.

“Everything that happened in the lead up to the start … the crowd have been eagerly waiting.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it!” Chatfield added.

Originally published as ‘Am I at the Gabba?’ Blockbuster clash delayed TWICE by ‘unsafe’ court, power outage