‘Ridicuously unfair’: Legend wants ‘alarming’ Super Netball result ‘overruled’
Australian netball legend Cath Cox has called for a controversial result to be “overruled” as Super Netball reels from a disastrous weekend.
Australian netball legend Cath Cox believes the Melbourne Vixens’ controversial one-point win over Collingwood needs to be “overruled”.
Round 2 of the Super Netball season descended into total chaos as two games were marred by contentious circumstances.
The sold-out match between the Adelaide Thunderbirds and NSW Swifts was abandoned at half time on Saturday night and declared a draw after a blackout at the stadium and the start of the match was delayed due to an issue with the sponsor decals on the court.
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But the more controversial result of the weekend saw the Vixens pip the Magpies 62-61 on the buzzer, but only after they were wrongly given two consecutive centre passes — handing them possession and a crucial chance to win the game.
Vixens shooter Mwai Kumwemda nailed a two-point Super Shot to snatch victory, but Magpies coach Nicole Richardson was fuming at the centre pass blunder, labelling the situation an “absolute fiasco”.
Richardson attempted to draw the umpire’s attention to the centre pass double-up in the dying stages of the game, but her efforts were in vain.
Cox believes Collingwood were “100 per cent” robbed and the result of the Vixens-Magpies game needs to be overturned and ruled a draw.
“That’s got to change. I think that score has to be overruled,” Cox told news.com.au.
“This is professional sport. There’s so many livelihoods attached to what happens out on that court.
“Think of the poor head coach Nicole Richardson. She’s probably got KPIs in her contract. And if they miss out on a finals series by one point because of something that happened in a game that was out of her control, that’s ridiculous.
“I believe the stance from Netball Australia is it will be investigated and the score will stay as it is, which I think is ridiculously unfair.
“I think that should be seriously looked at and if nothing else it should be at least a draw because the fact of the matter is the Vixens only got up by one because they had two centre passes in a row.”
Vixens-Magpies result stands
But the result wasn’t overturned, with Super Netball explaining in a statement released on Tuesday evening: “The result of the Round 2 match between the Magpies and Vixens stands.”
Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan said: “Human error is a feature of all sport, and while this is the case, we apologise to the Magpies and acknowledge the need to identify and apply mechanisms to better support our umpires, officials and teams.”
Replaying abandoned game ideal
In an ideal world, Cox would like to see the Thunderbirds-Swifts game replayed to achieve a proper result.
“It’s just unlucky. Particularly in Adelaide, that was just a comedy errors,” she said.
“There was so many pieces to that puzzle. One random incident after another. That’s never happened before, let’s hope it’s a one off.
“Given it was a draw when it finished, I think it’s probably a very fair result. But I do feel it’s a shame when stuff like this happens and you can’t play the game out.
“If the Swifts or the Thunderbirds miss out the finals by one point, and they could have won that game and got themselves in, that’s going to be a really hard pill to swallow for them.
“I’d love to see games replayed if something like that happens. But I completely appreciate that’s not as easy as saying, ‘OK guys we’re going to have another game this weekend’.
“We found that hard enough in Covid when the games had to be rescheduled. I don’t know what the answer is but I’d love for us to have the opportunity to play that game out properly.”
Twin fiascos raise integrity concerns
The two separate fiascos have raised legitimate concerns over the integrity of this Super Netball season and whether the final make-up of the top four teams that make finals will be compromised.
“It was a debacle really wasn’t it,” Cox said.
“My gut (feeling) is it was a shame because there were so many great games of netball. One that was deemed a draw in Adelaide and then the local derby in Melbourne.
“Really sad all those great matches were overshadowed by the goings-on around them.”
The Fox Netball commentator said the possible ramifications on the ladder were “really alarming”.
“I think a lot of coaches will be sweating on what took place on the weekend and ultimately how that’s going to affect them a few months down the track,” Cox said.
“I guess we wait to see what the decision is. The draw’s a draw, but certainly around the Vixens and the Magpies game and what’s going to come of it — if they will stick to their guns and say the result is the result or have a good look at it. It’s probably not very fair.”
The scrutiny is heightened given Super Netball is only an eight-team competition and every team apart from the Queensland Firebirds seemingly has a realistic chance of finishing in the top four and making finals.
Cox said the only silver lining from the fiascos is that the rules and processes in place will be tightened up to avoid similar situations in the future.
“I think we can learn and grow a lot from what happened in the Melbourne derby and hopefully take a step to ensure that never happens again,” she said.
“All this sort of stuff gets changed because of incidents that happen. We haven’t been in this position before.
“If nothing else hopefully this sets the game up to be better run without the confusion going forward. Obviously that’s going to happen because there’s already so much chat about this, which I think is fantastic.
“If that’ll alleviate mistakes down the track I’m all for it. At this stage it sounds like there’s a big miscommunication situation between the bench officials and the umpires.”
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The Lightning are on top of the ladder and is just one of two teams, along with the West Coast Fever, to be undefeated after two games.
“God they’ve been good,” Cox said of the Lightning.
“They’ve been really nice to watch as well. It’s been great, fast netball. I don’t know if I had the Lightning in the top four but I would definitely put them there after what I’ve seen thus far.”
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