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Their recent World Cup win cemented the Diamonds as the best netball team on Earth.
It is a remarkable turnaround from four years ago, when, having lost the Commonwealth Games final a year earlier, the Diamonds lost the World Cup final by a goal to New Zealand. Now, despite much publicised adversity in the lead-up, the Aussie team holds every trophy and gold medal available to them. On the court Australia are the best.
Australia celebrate victory in this year’s Netball World Cup final over England.Credit: Getty Images
Off the court, and despite all manner of dedication and effort, we just can’t make the same claim. The Diamonds’ social media catchphrase was apt: “Unfinished business.”
There is unfinished business facing netball in this country as big as the mountain the Diamonds set out to climb five years ago. But unlike the Diamonds, the game does not have five years to turn things around.
Like most Australians, I have loved joining the Matildas tsunami, and celebrating their contribution to the skyrocketing popularity of women’s sport. But for netball, as just one sport in the world’s most competitive sports marketplace, the rise of AFLW, NRLW, rugby sevens, women’s cricket, as well as soccer, represents an unprecedented challenge to our longstanding status as Australia’s No.1 sport for women and girls.
The pressing, prudent and brave question to ask is: now that Australia are the world’s best on the court, what will it take for us to be the best off it?
The truth is we can do better, and so we must. Because our grassroots are strong. For generations, netball has been one of Australia’s most-loved sports. It is the most popular sport for women and girls and is the fastest-growing participation sport for men and boys in the country.
It’s also structured, so it uses far less space per player than the football codes, and there is a place for every body type and every level of athletic ability. And netball does not face the same concussion risk as the football codes.
On court, Super Netball is the best netball league in the world. It has attracted the best players on the planet, and the quality and appeal of its entertainment is evidenced by sellout crowds throughout the recent finals series. And even more than this, netball has provided places, communities and people that have supported, developed and showcased strong independent women for more than 100 years.
With these advantages, how can bold, effective and innovative administration convert a grassroots juggernaut into an elite competition powerhouse for the benefit of all? Convert a competition that, despite its quality and popularity, underperforms commercially, into an irresistible magnet for the best athletes, sports fans and sponsors and investors, who will accept the challenge and opportunity to help netball to fully realise its untapped potential. All consciously designed, so a piece of that larger commercial pie is reinvested into grassroots where it all begins.
And so to these noble ends, what does being better “off the court” look like?
First, it’s critical that netball ensures the grassroots offering retains and grows its appeal. That the game can be played at a time and place to meet the needs of players of all ages, with user-friendly rules, uniforms and officiating.
Second, we need to better understand the needs of two crucial groups: grassroots netball lovers, and investors in the sport, whether they be sponsors, broadcasters or private equity. We must have better incentives for, and greater openness to investment and new ideas. We need simpler administration, less red tape, a more transparent cost base and a freeing up of sports data and IP with player consent.
And finally, we need to a create a true partnership with the players – one that incentivises all parties to grow the game together.
More than four years ago, Australian Netball, in anticipation of the women’s sport revolution we are seeing, commissioned a “State of the Game” review. It offered a blueprint for netball to compete and thrive in a new women’s sporting world. It provided detailed recommendations for each of the success factors above. I was privileged to chair the group that guided the work that offered a road map for Australian Netball’s future prosperity. Of course some of its recommendations are hard. But so was the Diamonds’ road to becoming world champions.
The players have scaled Everest. Time for Netball Australia to break base camp, and do whatever it takes to climb the mountain, too.
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