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Barnaby Joyce has become the latest voice to slam Australia’s elite netballers for losing a $15million sponsorship deal with Hancock Prospecting as a radio host describes the ongoing saga as a ‘classic case go woke, go broke’.
The Nationals MP told Sunrise players should say ‘thank you’ for the money instead of turning it down after the mining company terminated the lucrative partnership.
‘How about saying thank you rather than, I don’t want (the money)?,’ Mr Joyce said.
‘You’ve got $15million of somebody else’s money that’s been given to you… Now the money is gone, guess what, we haven’t got the money to pay our players and to cover the financial situation that Netball Australia finds itself in.
The Nationals MP (pictured) said players should say ‘thank you’ for the money instead of turning it down after the mining company terminated the lucrative partnership
‘We have people coming out now such as Australian women’s golf saying, we will take the money. There are a lot of other causes and returned servicemen and returned servicewomen and women’s sport who say, we will have the money.
‘They’ve got to realise, if you don’t make the money, be really, really careful of the person who offers you the money, or you won’t get the money.
‘If you know somebody with $15 million in the top drawer, then tell us where they are. It was crazy what they did, very foolish.’
The $15million deal was terminated on Saturday after the Diamonds stood by their teammate Donnell Wallam, a proud Aboriginal woman, after she refused to wear the Hancock Prospecting logo on her uniform.
Her decision was triggered by racist comments made by Lang Hancock, Gina Rinehart’s father, nearly four decades ago during a live television interview.
‘The ones that are no good to themselves and can’t accept things, the half-castes -and this is where most of the trouble comes,’ Mr Hancock said in 1984.
‘I would dope the water up so that they were sterile and would breed themselves out in future and that would solve the problem.’
Hancock Prospecting terminated the $15million deal on Saturday after the Diamonds stood by the decision of their teammate Donnell Wallam, a proud Aboriginal woman, to refuse to wear the Hancock Prospecting logo on her uniform (pictured, Gina Rinehart in 2018)
2GB Radio host Jim Wilson slammed the netballers as ‘selfish’ and ‘self-entitled’.
‘Seriously, these athletes are so terribly selfish,’ the host said on Monday.
‘This is a classic case of go woke, you go broke.’
Mr Wilson said the players had overstepped the mark by putting their personal interests in front of the team and the sport.
‘It gets my blood boiling,’ he said.
‘You can’t pin comments made by Gina Rinehart’s deceased father Lang Hancock decades ago as a reason to protest multimillionaire sponsorship of your sport.
‘Sponsors are hard to come by, and who knows how long its going to take Netball Australia to land a similar deal.
‘Are they thinking about the future of the sport? Are they thinking about pathway programs? Because their self-centered virtue signaling, their woke carry-on, has just cost netball $15million.’
The lucrative deal appeared to be a lifeline after Netball Australia suffered losses of more than $7million in two Covid-impacted years.
Donnell Wallam (pictured) is a Aboriginal woman and a member of the Diamonds squad
In a statement on Saturday, Hancock Prospecting unleashed on Netball Australia.
‘Hancock and its executive chairman Mrs Rinehart consider that it is unnecessary for sports organisations to be used as the vehicle for social or political causes,’ it said.
‘Firstly, because sport is at its best when it is focused on good and fair competition, with dedicated athletes striving for excellence to achieve their sporting dreams and to represent our country at their very best.’
‘Secondly, because there are more targeted and genuine ways to progress social or political causes without virtue signalling or for self-publicity.’
West Coast Fever CEO Simone Hansen said Australia’s elite netballers need to be better educated about the value of sponsorships after her club became ‘collateral damage’ in the fallout of a lucrative $15million deal.
Australia’s elite netballer players have been criticised for their handling of the $15million Lancock Prospecting deal (pictured, Jo Weston and Kate Maloney at a 2019 netball game)
The netball boss said her team is ‘very reliant’ on the success of the mining industry after they lost their $2million deal with Roy Hill, of which Hancock Prospecting is the majority owner, in the divorce with Netball Australia.
Ms Hansen has since turned on the players responsible for the termination of the deal, telling them: ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees’.
‘Our players and our playing group have been and remain 100 per cent behind the partnership that we had with Roy Hill,’ she told ABC Radio.
‘I wish there was (other companies throwing money at netball). It is hard.
‘Money doesn’t grow on trees. We need to go out there and work hard and build relationships and get companies to understand the value of being involved in women’s sport and netball in particular – it’s not an easy task.’
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