Selection shock a crying shame
You want to know just how cold professional sport is? Ladies and gentlemen I present big-hearted netballer Katrina Rore (nee Grant), and her heartless employer, Netball New Zealand.
After a decade, more than 100 tests for the Silver Ferns, some as captain, and a Commonwealth Games gold medal Rore was left out of the side to play England in the quad series next month.
Guess how her long service was recognised by NNZ in its press release announcing the squad? With. Not. One. Word.
It was a press release that might have been penned by the Christmas Grinch, a real Netball Nasty.
Two players who were injured and not considered rated a mention. Not Rore.
It was as if she and her glittering career had disappeared into the Bermuda centre circle, all traces of her twinked out by an organisation intent on accentuating the positive.
‘‘New look Silver Ferns’’ the media release read. It prattled on about the ‘‘strength of the collective’’ ‘‘the journey’’ and ‘‘we will do it together’’.
Such positivity. But nothing about what might well be a devastatingly low key ending to the career of one of the most dedicated and personable Silver Ferns.
It was a PR disaster. How does it speak to you of brand NNZ? I see an organisation that uses its staff, then throws them away without. One. Word.
Can you imagine Kieran Read missing an All Blacks squad, without a New Zealand Rugby mention?
When she fronted journalists, Taurua said there wasn’t much between the likes of Rore and those who did make the cut at the defensive end.
‘‘Just because someone’s named in the Silver Ferns, it doesn’t mean they’re any better than anybody else, or vice versa.
‘‘It means at this moment in time you’re able to put more consistent performances out there, both on and off the court, and you’re able to do your job, not one day, but all the days.’’
The door remained open, she said, as coaches do.
Problem was, NNZ left a void between its press release, and Taurua explaining herself. And into that information void flooded rumour and speculation.
What Rore deserved was accolades, praise, a pedestal, heartfelt thanks, and she did get some of those.
But riding shotgun with the praise was rumour, speculation, waves of calls from journalists, a bad day made much, much worse by a thoughtless – or heartless – employer.
Compare her past actions with those of NNZ.
In August, she said she was ‘‘totally fine’’ with relinquishing her hold on the captaincy, after then coach Janine Southby quit.
‘‘I’m all about the growth of others and moving forward and just wanting to be the best for that black dress,’’ she said.
Go back to the Commonwealth Games, where Rore was the weeping public face of the Silver Ferns as they crashed to a series of defeats – one an unthinkable one to Malawi – and failed to medal.
Being told by TV’s Jenny-May Clarkson ‘‘a lot of people back home are saying that there doesn’t seem to be any pride in the black dress’’, would have been a dagger to the heart of any international athlete.
Tearfully, Rore took that bullet for NNZ. And how has she been thanked for that, and so much more she has done?
With. Not. One. Word.