Super Netball strike threat looms

The threat of strike action now looms after Kathryn Harby-Williams was not re-elected to the Netball Australia board.

Helen Housby of the Swifts shoots at goal during the round eight Super Netball match between the NSW Swifts and the Sunshine Coast Lightning. Picture: Getty

The threat of strike action now hangs over Super Netball after former Diamond Kathryn Harby-Williams was not re-elected to the Netball Australia board at an AGM in Canberra this morning.

The meeting followed a week of heated talks between the league and its players, who demanded that Harby-Williams be reinstated.

The Netball Players’ Association issued an ultimatum to Netball Australia in a strongly-worded letter on Wednesday, threatening a range of legal action if their preferred director was dumped from the board.

Harby-Williams and former chair Anne-Marie Corboy have been replaced by Susan Comerford and Marcia Ella-Duncan, one of only two Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australians to have played for the Diamonds.

Corboy was removed from the Netball Australia board only one year into her term as chair.

New chair Paolina Hunt welcomed the new additions to the board in a statement issued this morning, saying that the body is confident it has found a “dynamic combination of experience”.

The players must now meet and determine their response, which is expected later this afternoon.

Netball Australia remains hopeful that strike action can be avoided.

“I’m sure that players want to play. I’m sure that they don’t want to strike,” said director Geoff Parmenter.