Tumultuous times for netball in Australia
Netball Australia is in political turmoil, with board chair AnneMarie Corboy standing down after less than a year in the post and then ousted as a director at a special general meeting called by the member organisations last week.
The annual general meeting will be held on Friday, at which three board vacancies – including, now Corboy’s – will be filled from among five candidates. Netball Queensland and Netball New South Wales are believed to be leading the push for more power to be returned to the state associations.
But others hold grave concerns about the potential loss of board independence and business acumen, fearing the decision-making process will be hijacked by more parochial interests. ‘‘Basically, the sport will go back 30 years,’’ said one senior figure.
It is believed the Australian Sports Commission is closely monitoring the situation from a governance standpoint, while the Netball Players’ Association is also concerned at the possible ramifications.
Unrest has festered since last year’s decision to launch a new eight-team Super Netball league in 2017 to replace the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The process was delayed while commercial agreements were finalised with the likes of major sponsor Suncorp and broadcast partners Channel Nine and Telstra.
Highly contentious, too, was the decision to grant the three new licences to football-aligned clubs Collingwood, Sunshine Coast Lightning (Melbourne Storm) and the Giants, owned by NNSW but aligned with GWS. Having raided the talent of the five existing teams, run by the member associations, all three new franchises are in the top four with six rounds remaining in the inaugural Super Netball season.
Former Australian captain Kathryn Harby-Williams and another former player, Cheryl McCormack, are the two current directors up for re-election, with Marcia Ella, Susan Comerford and Jan Magaccis the challengers.
Corboy, who succeeded Noeleen Dix last year, was unavailable for comment, but it is believed the member associations were critical of her communication skills and leadership style. Several attempts at mediation by Netball Australia were apparently rebuffed by the member organisations.