Outrage as netball umpire punishes overweight player

  • 27/02/2017
Rachael Brown said she cried for the entire second quarter after her conversation with the umpire (Facebook)
Rachael Brown said she cried for the entire second quarter after her conversation with the umpire (Facebook)

An obese Brisbane netballer was left sobbing on court after an umpire ruled her body shape meant her dress was too short - and deducted her team two points as a result.

Rachael Brown told the Brisbane Times that an umpire had spoken to the captain of her team after the first quarter about the alleged breach of uniform regulations.

She said upon approaching the umpire about her assessment of her dress, she asked whether she thought the dress was too short because of her size, to which they responded "yes".

The 30-year-old wrote in a Facebook post that she was "upset about how [she] was treated" playing the sport she loved.

"I'm usually one to just let it go, but this has hurt me and nobody should ever be felt this way about wanting to be active and play sport," Ms Brown wrote.

The Brisbane Netball Association later responded, apologising for how their umpire had made her feel.

"Hi Rachael, we are very sorry that this situation has occurred and made you feel this way," they said.

"It is not the intention of our policy to make people feel badly about themselves, the purpose is to protect and prevent adolescent girls from wearing inappropriate uniforms."

Ms Brown said the incident left her crying on court for the entire second quarter.

The Brisbane Netball Association has forwarded Ms Brown's complaint to an independent tribunal, which will make a ruling on it this week.

Newshub.