PERTH, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 26: Courtney Bruce of the Fever knocks the ball clear of Stephanie Wood of the Lightning during the Super Netball Grand Final match between the West Coast Fever and the Sunshine Coast Lightning at Perth Arena on August 26, 2018 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images) Photograph: Paul Kane/Getty Images
Super Netball has a new brains trust; a competition committee tasked with making recommendations to the game’s governing body about all facets of the league, from potential rule changes to broadcast. And while the gender balance of the committee unveiled on Monday has raised eyebrows – just three of the nine members are women, with a coaching representative still to be named – the move will see a greater diversity of opinion filtering through to the Netball Australia board, which is responsible for both Super Netball and the Diamonds program.
And that can only be a good thing, as the national body grapples with juggling an increasing number of balls. Recent criticism about the timing of next year’s season – which overlaps with the Netball World Cup in Liverpool and provides little rest for international representatives – is a case in point.
The AFLW-esque committee, which met for the first time on Tuesday and will meet quarterly, replaces three less formalised working groups established over recent years. They each looked at different areas; rules, competitive balance and any issues arising from club versus country commitments.
It includes three state administrators; Netball NSW chief executive Carolyn Campbell, Netball WA chief executive Simon Taylor and Netball Queensland high performance boss Richard McInnes. Also on the committee is Diamond and Melbourne Vixen Jo Weston, Australian Netball Players’ Association executive officer and ex-Diamond Kathryn Harby-Williams and four Netball Australia executives; Chris Symington (events), Andrew Collins (sport), Peter Hertan (compliance) and Bill Allen (event operations). A coaching representative will also be added soon.
Unlike its 14-member AFLW equivalent, which has a 50-50 gender split, only three women are on the Super Netball committee. For Australia’s number one female team sport – built on the backs of generations of women and girls – it feels like a big backward step; a sentiment expressed by fans on social media in recent days.
Symington, Netball Australia’s executive general manager of events, addressed the criticism, saying of the “nominated members” – those not from Netball Australia – there is a balance. “Among those representing the clubs and players, the balance is there,” he said. “It just happens that the key staff from Netball Australia, in those particular roles, are male.”
Gender aside, Symington said the committee will provide a “more consolidated and streamlined approach” to collating feedback and making decisions that will shape the future of world’s premier netball competition, complementing periodic fan and player surveys. He said the committee will become a touchstone for the eight-person Netball Australia board, which is chaired by Paolina Hunt. It’s of note that Harby-Williams missed out on a position on the board in 2017, sparking protests by players.
“At the end of the day, we want to make sure Super Netball is the best women’s league in the world. And there are a number of complex factors that contribute to that; we want to get the best, data-driven advice from our key stakeholders that we can. The group’s remit is essentially to provide recommendations to the board on any potential changes and issues that need to be looked at, to ensure we can continue to deliver that.”
At Tuesday’s meeting in Melbourne, the committee reviewed the 2018 season, including a number of innovations, like the contentious bonus point system, potential future rule changes – “some for 2019 and some for beyond” – as well as a raft of other subjects spanning broadcast, match day experience and more.
Symington said there won’t be a two-point shot in 2019 and that it would be tested extensively before being introduced, if at all. The committee is about far more than rules though, with members spending about a third of their time on the subject.
“It’s easy to get caught up in that, but there are much bigger pieces of work at play, from competitive balance to how we manage club versus country commitments to player movement to broadcast to the number of international players in the league to the match day experience for fans. You change one thing and there are flow-on effects across the board. We need to have those big conversations with people with a stake.”
A bit like having a wing defence on the transverse line for back-up, more voices in that conversation cannot hurt.
