Netball legend loses it Gina Rinehart terminated $15million sponsorship deal racism scandal

An Australian netball legend has slammed Netball Australia for bungling a $15 million sponsorship from Gina Rinehart’s mining giant.

Australia’s richest woman accused Netball Australia of virtue signalling after Diamonds national team players took issue with her offer.

The players were uneasy about being associated with Ms Rinehart’s company over racist comments Lang Hancock made about Aboriginals in 1984.

Indigenous player Donnell Wallam reportedly wanted an exemption to wear the sponsor’s logo on the team jersey with her teammates backing her decision. 

Australian netball legend Natalie Medhurst has slammed the national setup for failing to communicate with its players over the bungled $15million sponsorship with a mining giant.

Gina Rinehart has accused Netball Australia of virtue signalling after its players took issue with her sponsorship deal over offensive comments made by her late father

Her mining company Hancock Prospecting issued the scathing response as it withdrew its $15 million sponsorship offer.

‘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,’ the company said. 

‘There are more targeted and genuine ways to progress social or political causes without virtue signalling or for self-publicity.’

Natalie Medhurst, who has 86 caps for the Diamonds, pointed the finger firmly at Netball Australia for letting down its stars and putting the game in jeopardy. 

‘It’s a car wreck. Having played at the elite level for 17 years, seeing the sport like this breaks me,’ Medhurst wrote for CodeSports.

‘So much of this story is murky and amid the bombshell headlines, the crux of the problem has been lost.’

Medhurst said the future of netball in Australia is in jeopardy given repeated financial setbacks

Medhurst said the sport was already in a precarious financial position and wasn’t in a place where it could be putting its long term future at risk with more sponsorship scandals.

‘Netball Australia and the Diamonds playing group haven’t always been one big happy family, but it has always been a hell of a lot better than what we’ve seen in the past two years,’ she wrote.

‘Enough is enough. No one is winning this battle.

‘Innocent bystanders, including grassroots players, volunteers and supporters, are taking a hit. Even spare a thought for Netball WA and the West Coast Fever, who have been sideswiped by this out-of-control vehicle.’

Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins also came under scrutiny for objecting to a deal with Alinta Energy despite previously starring in an ad for the brand, while Fremantle Dockers players demanded their club only promote sustainable firms.

Medhurst urged sporting bodies to create a better working environment for their players and work together on the deals they signed. 

‘No coach or team (or business for that matter) could begrudge their players for living out the values of their culture. Otherwise, why bother,’ she said.

‘This holds true for the Australian Diamonds. On what grounds can we criticise them for living and acting upon the very culture that has been embraced and previously praised by the players, coaching staff and netball executives?’

She lamented the sport was already struggling with ‘well-documented financial problems’, and said continued failures could be ‘disastrous’ for netball. 

Medhurst urged sporting bodies to create a better working environment for its players and work together regarding the deals they sign

Kathryn Harby-Williams, the Netball Australia’s Player’s Association boss and a former Diamonds captain, has broken her silence on the matter – revealing the players were willing to wear the sponsor through the upcoming competition.    

‘It’s been a shock, obviously everyone is extremely disappointed but I think we need to clarify here the players position has always been that they were prepared to wear the logo during the Constellation Cup,’ Ms Harby-Williams said on ABC Grandstand.

‘We had come to an agreement with Netball Australia where everyone was comfortable that would happen and that Donnell and the players would not be required to wear the logo against England in the three-match series starting shortly.

‘At no point in time did the players seek to have the deal fall off the table but we were certainly willing to come to a compromise and had agreed to that shortly after the players stood by Donnell.’

Ms Harby-Williams said Wallam was never given an exemption but instead was pursuing one – and that the matter could have been easily resolved internally.

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Player’s Association boss Kathryn Harby-Williams revealed Wallam was going to wear the jersey because the pressure of the situation was ‘too much to bear’

‘Donnell sought an exemption for herself and that wasn’t forthcoming because there was a meeting where it was made very clear that no exemptions would given to any player,’ she said

‘That was a disappointing moment because the players thought at the very least that an exemption might be given for Donnell at that point in time.

‘Obviously that was a disappointing moment for the players to understand that would not be forthcoming.

‘At no point was she given an exemption to wear the logo against England.

‘And that’s fundamentally what it came down to in the end, an Indigenous player, our first in almost 25 years, only our third in history, was seeking an exemption for just three games so that she could focus on her debut and then we could get to the table to sort it after the England series.’

The Player’s Association boss even revealed Wallam was going to wear the shirt because the pressure of the situation was ‘too much to bear’.

‘As a sport, I think that should be extremely disappointing for everybody because we need to do better and be inclusive, with no fear of reprisal,’ she added.

Netball Australia chief executive Kelly Ryan admitted she was ‘concerned’ about the future of the sport after Ms Rinehart tore up her $15 million sponsorship offer.

‘We are reasonably concerned but at the same time, we have been incredibly transparent with the financial position of our sport throughout the course of the year,’ she told Nine’s Today on Sunday.  

‘We are certainly acutely aware of where our sport has been positioned. We have been doing a huge amount of work throughout the year to make sure we can right-size this ship. 

‘It is very disappointing to lose this funding which was really going to help accelerate us forward and put us in a much stronger position. 

‘However, I’m still incredibly confident that we have the right plans in place that will get the sport to where it needs to be.’

The $15 million contract was set to be a lifeline for netball Australia, which has lost $7 million in the past two years as Super Netball costs ballooned.

When asked to respond to Ms Rinehart’s statement that sports teams should not be used for ‘virtue signalling’, Ms Ryan was noncommittal. 

‘Obviously Mrs Rinehart’s views are hers and we fully appreciate them,’ she said.  

‘There is a really important role that sporting organisations do play from grassroots right through to the elite to create a safe environment to have really strong social conversations.’