How a late-night phone call saved the Super Netball season from potential catastrophe
That Super Netball plays its grand final on Sunday is commendable in itself as it wasn’t so long ago, with borders rapidly shutting, the competition actually stood on the brink.
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It was the late-night Zoom call that saved the Super Netball season and avoided “catastrophic” financial implications for the sport.
The Melbourne Vixens and West Coast Fever will line up in the Super Netball grand final in Brisbane on Sunday, becoming the first professional sport in Australia to complete an uncompromised season during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But months before the 60th and final game was set in stone, the season was on the brink as players and officials scrambled to ensure netball could survive the unique challenges of 2020.
Officials believed delaying the start of their season from May to August 1 would give them time to ride out the early confusion surrounding the pandemic.
But with a second wave hitting Victoria and NSW and borders closing around the country, the game’s key stakeholders met deep into a Saturday night in July, thrashing out the details of a deal that would send players to Queensland to save the season.
Super Netball chief executive Chris Symington and Australian Netball Players Association boss Kathryn Harby-Williams had already been involved in months of meetings with the game’s stakeholders, players and commercial partners.
“(Cancelling) would have been catastrophic really,” Symington said of the financial implications had Super Netball not be able to meet its obligations to broadcasters, sponsors and commercial partners.
“That’s why everyone worked so hard to make sure that didn’t happen.”
Harby-Williams said there was resolve early on from the playing group to make whatever sacrifices necessary to ensure the season went ahead.
“The bottom line for them was we will do everything in our power to ensure a season plays out, and that’s how they tackled all the decision-making,” she said.
“There were a lot of last-minute decisions in terms of going into a hub – I think the Victorians had their bags packed for three days before they knew exactly where they were going – but their preparedness to do whatever it took was outstanding.”
Going into a hub wasn’t the players’ preference.
But as July progressed it became inevitable, and they were warned to pack their bags and be ready to move.
Members of the Vixens and Collingwood Magpies, as well as Victorian umpires, were sent for COVID testing and placed in home isolation to be ready for an escape.
It ends on Sunday. Who are you backing to go all the way? Let us know in the comments 👇
— Suncorp Super Netball (@SuperNetball) October 15, 2020
🦊 for Vixens
🟢 for Fever#SSNVixensFever #SSNGrandFinal pic.twitter.com/LmHD3JISCv
With the Victorians needing to quarantine for 14 days following any move interstate, Symington held almost daily Zoom meetings with up to 100 stakeholders, and Saturday, July 18, shaped as D-Day as officials met late into the night.
“We had some interest on the table from a couple of different states and we needed to move quickly,” Symington said of the marathon meeting.
“We were keen to announce and we had the Premier of Queensland lined up for the Sunday, so we needed to make sure we had everyone on-board before pulling the trigger.”
Harby-Williams was among those on the late-night call.
“The players really needed to get their heads around the hub situation because it wasn’t their preference, but there came a point where it was the only option,” she said.
“While it was difficult, if there was a choice of location and venue for the hub they weren’t disappointed in where it landed … there’s no doubt that Queensland was their preferred option, so it took away a bit of the pain.”
Victorian players were rushed onto flights the next day and hotel rooms were booked for hundreds of players, coaches and officials – eventually more than 200 rooms for more than 350 nights would be needed – before they headed into quarantine in Brisbane.
But the drama was not over.
As the season drew closer, news broke the border between Queensland and NSW would close.
Opening-round matches scheduled for the new home of the NSW Swifts and Giants Netball at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney had to be abandoned, with both Sydney-based clubs given one day to head to Queensland.
“We were holding off until the last minute to hope that it wouldn’t close, but when the decision was made, they moved and were up in Queensland within 24 hours,” Symington said.
“It was like a military operation. They got the players on the flights, the staff got in their cars and drove up, they packed a truck full of equipment because they didn’t know at that point how long they’d be away for.”
The response was one Symington had come to expect from a sport he is enormously proud of.
“Sometimes when you’re watching it you forget what everyone’s had to overcome to get to this point. Everyone’s really proud of how we’ve pulled together and the sacrifices that have been made,” he said.
Originally published as How a late-night phone call saved the Super Netball season from potential catastrophe