Australian netballers believe proposed Hancock Prospecting sponsorship saga could have been saved

As the pay dispute between Netball Australia and its players rolls on, the players have aired a list of grievances with the organisation, as the crisis spirals further into chaos.

Australia’s elite netball players have aired a list of grievances with Netball Australia that include reneging on an agreement that they believe could have saved the proposed Hancock Prospecting sponsorship and the millions of dollars that would have flowed into the sport as part of it.

The Australian Netball Players’ Association released a list of 21 resolutions on Thursday, calling NA’s pay offer amid the bitter Collective Player Agreement standoff a “publicity stunt”.

While the resolutions include calling on NA to return to the negotiating table or mediation “with more realistic and fair proposals which would be capable of acceptance by the players” and expressing concern about recent legal threats, they also include a laundry list of grievances that were unlikely to have been aired publicly had a deal on the CPA been agreed to earlier.

“Resolution 18” includes nine areas of “growing frustration” with NA, including the first public revelation of an agreement between a senior NA official and players to play last year’s series against the England Roses without the Hancock Prospecting logo on their dresses in order to stand with First Nations debutant Donnell Wallam.

Players have blasted NA for “reneging on an agreement between NA and ANPA Chairs for the Diamonds to wear the Hancock Prospecting logo versus NZ and not versus England and a commitment by both parties to work with Hancock to ensure the sport did not lose a partner in the game”.

Lauren Morgan posted this shot to social media showing the Hancock Prospecting logo. Source: Supplied

Donnell Wallam. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Every move the players have made over the past year what they have called their #fightforfair during CPA negotiations, has been met with comments from the public about the breakdown of the proposed Hancock Prospecting sponsorship and allegations that players were to blame.

But in a resolution read out by ANPA president Jo Weston, who was at one point in tears in an emotion-charged media call in Melbourne on Thursday, the allegation of a broken promise from then NA chair Marina Go included the line: “players absolutely did not turn their back on this sponsorship as is a popular misconception”.

Go said as she was no longer NA chair it was inappropriate to comment.

Diamonds players – and Wallam in particular – have shouldered much of the blame for the breakdown of the three-and-a-half year, $15 million proposed deal, which was withdrawn by Hancock in October last year.

The company cited “the complexity of existing issues between Netball Australia and the Players Association” in a partnership withdrawal that blindsided NA officials and all in the sport and in a separate statement on its website, called out sports being used for virtue-signalling or as a “vehicle for social or political causes”.

Former NA chair Marina Go. Picture David Clark

The breakdown of the deal occurred during the Diamonds’ international series against New Zealand (Constellation Cup) and England last year when the Diamonds made a pledge to stand with Wallam after she raised a conscientious objection to wearing the Hancock logo on debut given heinous historical statements by company founder Lang Hancock about Aborigines.

Players believed they had come to an agreement with then NA chair Marina Go to wear the Hancock logo on their dress for Constellation Cup matches in Australia and New Zealand against the Silver Ferns but to play the England series – in which Wallam would make her debut – in a dress without the logo.

Negotiations would then continue about the path forward.

It was essentially a moot point in the end, with Wallam agreeing to wear the logo before the sponsorship offer was withdrawn.

Go stepped down as NA chair in the midst of the wrangling, just days before the sponsorship deal fell apart but said there was no “smoking gun” involved in what was a planned transition.

The players’ decision to highlight what they see as the former chair’s part in the decision though shows their increasing frustration with the “go woke, go broke” keyboard warriors, who bring up the Hancock breakdown at every opportunity.

NA’s decision to sell the 2022 Super Netball grand final to Western Australia has also come under fire, with players calling out powerbrokers for “pretending to consult about the location of the 2022 Grand Final and associated commercial arrangements when in truth a deal had already been done”.

“Threatening players and their representatives with legal action”; “pushing the players into unemployment and placing players under financial duress during an Australian cost of living crisis”; and “making announcement of the National Team (sic) contingent on players signing the Collective Player Agreement” have also been included.

The pressure is ramping up on Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

All have come on the watch of current chief executive Kelly Ryan, who is under increasing pressure to get the CPA done.

In an interview with SEN Melbourne’s Gerard Whateley on Thursday, Ryan denied attempting to weaken the players’ negotiating power on revenue share by offering immediate backpay earlier this week.

“Absolutely not,” Ryan said of the pay offer, something ANPA on Thursday morning called a “publicity stunt”.

“Obviously, we’re in a really difficult situation with the fact that our players are not getting paid at the moment.

“We have made significant progress in these discussions across the course of the last 10 months.

“What we wanted to do is actually signal the progress that had been made, the items that had been agreed on prior to now – put them away and lock them in so then the players can start making money, getting back to training and all those things that we know they’re so desperate to do – and continue to negotiate those remaining points.

“We wanted it to be a really significant olive branch but it’s absolutely their decision if they choose to take it or not.”

Ryan conceded the weekend’s legal letter to Diamonds players underlining their obligation to attend the Australian Netball Awards had caused affront and conceded “we don’t execute everything perfectly”.

The 2023 World Cup Diamonds at the 2023 Australian Netball Awards. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

But she did not believe there would be lasting bitterness because of it.

“We have a huge amount of respect for our players,” Ryan said.

“They are incredible athletes, they’re incredible role models, and what they do contribute to the game is first class.

“So we have the same ideas and we have the same beliefs in our sport that it can be better and it can grow more.

“I think what is going to be beneficial for the next stages is just continuing to have clear communication and being able to have more honest conversations with each other as we get ourselves out of here.

“But I don’t for a minute think that this has a long lasting impact on our ability to work really closely with our players.”

Originally published as Australian netballers believe proposed Hancock Prospecting sponsorship saga could have been saved