Liz Ellis joins Netball Australia board after period of mass disruption

Australian sports icon Liz Ellis has joined the Netball Australia board after a period of mass disruption for the sport’s governing body. She explains why to EMMA GREENWOOD.

Liz Ellis wants to make it clear she’s not the messiah.

But the appointment of the former Diamonds captain to the board of Netball Australia is a significant move to help supercharge the process of renewal that needs to occur after poisonous period for one of the nation’s biggest sports.

Ellis has been appointed to a one-year term, with chair Wendy Archer saying her unrivalled playing career brought “new skills and a different insight” as the board focused on the future growth of the sport.

Calls for Ellis to join the board had become deafening over the past 12 months, with many believing her skill set and standing in the game were crucial to helping bring together the sport’s various factions to ensure a sport facing challenges on several fronts can thrive.

A change of CEO after the resignation of Kelly Ryan late last year and board refresh - Archer will step down as chair at next month’s AGM while several other directors have left in the past six months - as well as deep conversations with family and mentors has Ellis believing the time is right to give back to the sport.

Liz Ellis has joined the Netball Australia board. Picture: Jason O'Brien/Getty Images

But the three-time world champion wants to stress her appointment is not a panacea for all the sport’s ills.

“I’m just one of a team of nine people who are charged with sitting on the board of Netball Australia,” she said.

“One of my great strengths is that I’m a team player. This is not something where just appointing me to the board fixes all the issues in the sport.

“But by appointing me to the board, there’s just one more person who can be involved and who has a deep understanding of the sport to be able to about the change and to think about where we need to end up.”

NA earlier this month announced two other board appointments - the appointment of business and community leader Gabrielle Upton to a three-year term after she was selected to fill a casual vacancy earlier this year, while former Diamond Mo’onia Gerrard has been renewed for a further 12 months as the athlete director.

After last year’s challenges, Ellis believes there is a sense that now was a moment in time for netball to capitalise on its opportunities as well as address its threats.

Liz Ellis is among Australia’s greatest ever netballers. Picture: Phil Walter/Getty Images

“Never waste a crisis,” she said.

“Last year was one crisis after another. So what did we learn about what we want our sport to look like, feel like, sound like, be like.

“How do we implement that and who needs to contribute to that … and how does Netball Australia as an organisation support the needs of all the levels of the sport?

“I think that’s probably something that was missing through those crises of last year.

“There wasn’t an understanding from the states of what Netball Australia was trying to achieve and I don’t know if Netball Australia really understood what the states needed to achieve, whereas I think there’s a really good mood in the sport at the moment to figure out what all our needs are … where we need to go and how are we going to get there and let’s work together to do that.”

Ellis has been mulling over the decision about whether to join the board for the past 12 months, thinking deeply about whether it’s the right time for her and her family.

“I’ve thought for the last 12 months or so that I’ve got time and I’m far enough removed now from my commentary role … but also, I just wanted to think about it to make sure that it was the right thing for me, for my family and I could actually add value,” she said.

“I spoke to a few different people who I trust and they were urging caution probably six months ago, eight months ago but with the change of CEO and a few different people being brought into the board, there was a sense that okay, the sport’s in the process of renewal and I just decided I wanted to be part of that.”

Kelly Ryan stepped down as Netball Australia CEO late last year. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

Ellis said last year’s protracted pay war was “super poisonous” for the sport, with many sides of the business affected.

“But the flip side of that is that netball is such an incredibly strong sport,” she said.

“And whilst there were a lot of issues and toxicity at the top end of the sport, that didn’t leech down into the grassroots.

“The fact of the matter is that there are 1000s of, mostly women, week in, week out delivering a brilliant product at grassroots that is beloved by so many people - and I thought, that’s where the starting point can be.

“How do we best represent them and help them do their work and then grow as a sport.

“I did think long and hard about it because once you’re in, you’re in boots at all, and I don’t want to be the sort of board member who just ticks and flicks and just reads the minutes and says ‘yes’ or ‘no’, I want to be someone who really digs in and understands (the issues).

“I’ve got a good idea of the challenges of the sport but I want to dig down as to the why understand and how I can help find a solution.”

Originally published as Liz Ellis joins Netball Australia board after period of mass disruption