Time to rein in netball umpires
One small step over the line, one giant leap into uncharted netball territory.
The extraordinary decision to order a player from the court in last weekend’s ANZ Premiership match between the Mystics and the Stars has prompted another high-level inquiry for the sport’s embattled administrators as they seek to ensure the actions of the umpires this season do not have more far-reaching implications down the track.
The removal of Stars midcourter Fa’amu Ioane midway through the final quarter of her side’s tense round two clash against the Mystics was described in various quarters as a rarity in the sport. It is not just rare, it is unprecedented.
In one and a bit seasons of the ANZ Premiership, it has never happened. It never happened in the nine seasons of the transTasman league. And it never happened in 10 years of the former domestic league before that.
If it ever were to happen, it was thought it would take dangerous play, malicious intent, violence or an extreme act of dissent towards the umpire to take the drastic step of removing a player from the game. Instead, Ioane earned the dubious honour of being the first player to be sent off in a top level netball match in New Zealand for going offside a few too many times.
As a result, the young wing defence has inadvertently become the face of a philosophical battle waging in netball.
A Netball NZ judicial review panel last week ruled Ioane didn’t have a case to answer. Nor did Stars captain Grace Kara and coach Kiri Wills, who expressed their confusion and disappointment at the decision in the aftermath of last week’s match.
Instead, the review panel said it was the umpires’ actions that warrant further investigation.
Given this was an unprecedented step for an umpire to take, Netball NZ is right to hold a judicial hearing into the approach taken by the officials.
It was obvious from the opening weekend that the umpires have this year been instructed to crack down on what are deemed to be ‘‘deliberate infringements’’ – essentially what other sports may term professional fouls.
There’s really only a few instances in which a player might be compelled to deliberately commit a penalty on the netball court. Like when there’s 12 seconds left on the clock before the end of a term and a defender may purposefully obstruct an opponent knowing that if they draw a penalty it will help run down the clock. Or when a shooter is left wide open in the circle and an outside defender smothers the ball carrier to delay the pass into the circle and give their circle defenders time to get back in position.
Yet so far this season we’ve seen umpires regularly advance penalties and dish out cautions or warnings for ‘‘deliberate’’ offences.
That’s because the test the umpires are applying as to what constitutes a deliberate act or not, appears to be flawed.
Sure, some attempts are clumsy or constitute poor judgment and should rightly draw umpire attention, but it is dangerous to apply this as a test for deliberately flouting the rules.
While this may seem like an argument over technicalities and semantics, there’s a reason why this matters: that is the unintended consequences of such umpiring decisions. By taking this approach, the umpires are actively discouraging any contesting of the ball on the circle edge.
If they continue down this track not only will the game suffer as a spectacle at domestic level, but it could have an impact on how the Silver Ferns perform on the international stage.