Netball Australia chief executive Marne Fechner steps down to become cycling supremo

Netball Australia chief executive Marne Fechner has announced her resignation after steering the sport through a nightmare year.

Marne Fechner says netball’s top job has sometimes been a lonely place this year

Netball Australia chief executive Marne Fechner has announced her resignation after steering the sport through a nightmare year that pushed many sports administrators to the brink, and beyond.

Fechner has been closely linked to netball since her days as a player who almost cracked a career at the elite level. But on Friday she announced she was leaving to become the chief executive of the new amalgamated governing body for cycling in Australia, AusCycling.

AusCycling brings road and track cycling, BMX, paracycling and mountain biking all under one governing body.

It’s only now that Fechner has opened up about the toll that the past year has taken. The 2020 Super Netball season was improbably delivered in a Queensland bubble, despite massive financial and logistical hurdles.

In Fechner’s words, the top job can be a very lonely one in these situations.

“It’s been shit at times, it’s been so hard. There are times when it’s just been seven days after seven days after seven days, but you do it because you love the game and I could sit there on a Saturday afternoon in lockdown in Melbourne and turn my TV on and watch Super Netball, and think, ‘I’ve played my part in making sure that can happen’.”

Fechner’s tenure was one of drastic reform. She launched the Diamonds branding of the national team, delivered the first national commercial framework in any Australian federalised sport, and oversaw the rollout of Super Netball, a league that has carried a heavy financial burden but delivered large pay rises to players.

Fechner doesn’t leave until the end of December, and is keen to lock in Australia’s bid for the 2027 Netball World Cup before then.

She said there was never a good time to leave the top job, but she was confident a new strategic review due within weeks would provide a clean platform for fresh ideas and new leadership.

The summer to come looms as one of enormous consequence for Netball Australia. The sport must lock in a new broadcast deal, a new collective bargaining agreement with players and team participation agreement with Super Netball clubs.

Some in the sport are convinced Fechner never had a clean go at the job, constantly beset by internal politics as the sport attempted massive reform.

Fechner’s commercial acumen has delivered substantial financial growth for the sport, but some have felt that netball needed its leader to focus more on the sport and less on the marketing.

Fechner’s predecessor at Netball Australia, Kate Palmer, applauded her understudy’s ability to steer through the chop, and bring a cohort of state bodies along in growing the game.

“Super Netball was always going to be challenging, and Marne put that in place. Even though it wasn’t always going to be happy families, they did that together, and she led that.”

Palmer added Fechner had always stood out as a rising talent in Australian sport, and cycling was lucky to have her.

“Of the leaders I see in sport, she is among the best. She’s clear on her values. In netball, it’s important to be fearless, and she’s certainly fearless and calm in the chaos.”

Netball Australia has installed Ron Steiner as an interim CEO, and will begin a search for a permanent replacement in the new year. Steiner will not participate in that process.

Former Netball NSW chief executive Carolyn Campbell, who announced her own resignation earlier in November, has long been seen as a likely replacement having served a long term in charge of the sport’s largest state body. Campbell insisted she was looking forward to some rest when she stepped aside, but it would surprise nobody if she expressed interest in the top job.

Two other clear candidates are Rosie King and Catherine Clark, the respective leaders of Netball Victoria and Netball Queensland. King insisted that despite the gossip, it was far too early to consider applying.

“At the end of the day, there’s a little bit of water to pass under the bridge before we get to the next stage,” King said.

There is another view that a year of harsh cuts in Australian sport has created an unusually deep pool of candidates, and netball would do well to find a strong external voice to take charge.

Fechner’s advice for whoever takes her job? Be brave and bold.

“And making sure we celebrate the federated model in our sport, because we need to work together to make sure that it’s successful, because to be too independent and individual, that’s not a luxury we can afford.”