By Ravinder Hunia
Netball commentator and former Australian Diamond Liz Ellis has described the sacking of Netball Australian board chair Anne-Marie Corboy, and rumoured removal of Kathryn Harby-Williams, as a coup by the establishment.
The idea of ejecting key members comes after concerns the states weren't happy about the timing of the Suncorp Super Netball competition and the processes surrounding it.
"It has sort of translated into almost a coup of the Netball Australia board. I think it was really a power-play in terms of getting rid of highly respected business-woman Anne-Marie Corboy, the idea was to force her hand and force her out," Ellis told Newshub.
"Then I was made aware Kathryn Harby-Williams, who most Kiwis would know, she sits on the board and there's talk about removing her.
"For me, that is incredibly unacceptable, I do hope sanity will prevail."
Former Australian Diamond Harby-Williams is a highly experienced board member who has portfolios extending from grassroots netball to elite and broadcasting. Now players within the netballing community are threatening industrial action if she's not re-elected, which was the basis for Ellis writing an article to bring the issue to light before the re-election meeting tomorrow.
"The meeting is to NOT re-elect Kathryn, and she's up for re-election. That's alarming for a lot of people who have a passion for netball in Australia."
The Suncorp Super Netball competition is in its inaugural season after leaving the ANZ Championship last year. The sports ratings, crowds and viewership have all increased greatly under the new structure and because of this Ellis feels any concerns are being swept under the rug.
"There are things that need to be addressed by Netball Australia but engineering an overthrow in the board is not the way to have those things addressed."
Netball Australia told Newshub this is purely a governance issue and will have no impact on players or the competition. A statement was also received this morning:
"The sport is in total agreement around the need to move forward collectively, with a focus on the most critical issues impacting netball, including fully leveraging the recent commercial and broadcast inroads that have been made with the inception of Suncorp Super Netball.
"Netball will continue as the leading advocate for women's sport.
"The threat of industrial action is unfortunate and not something we'd like to see in netball."
Newshub.
