Diamonds players have expressed their disappointment at the outcome of the Hancock Prospecting sponsorship saga and have continued to support their teammate Donnell Wallam, after the mining company announced it would withdraw from its $15 million sponsorship deal.
The retreat of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting comes after Donnell Wallam – the first Indigenous woman to be selected in the Diamonds’ squad in almost 25 years – raised concerns about Hancock Prospecting’s record on Indigenous issues.
In 1984, Lang Hancock – Rinehart’s father and the founder of Hancock Prospecting – suggested Indigenous people should be sterilised and “breed themselves out”.
Wallam is expected to make her debut for the Diamonds in a series against England starting this week and had requested an exemption from wearing the Hancock Prospecting logo for the three-game series.
Players in the Diamonds had been supportive of Wallam’s stance on the issue and had backed her request to not wear the logo. Amid ongoing pressure, the players eventually said they were prepared to wear the logo on their dress.
Last week, captain Liz Watson had spoken publicly about wanting to make the partnership with Hancock Prospecting work, and is now disappointed the sponsorship is “off the table”. Watson has also said she was proud of her team’s support of Wallam.
Under intense scrutiny, Wallam had reportedly ended up agreeing to wear the logo during the England series, but Hancock Prospecting chose to withdraw its sponsorship regardless. In a statement, the company said it did not “wish to add to Netball’s disunity problems”.
CEO of the Australian Netball Players Association Kathryn Harby-Williams spoke to ABC Grandstand, saying it was a disappointing outcome.
“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,” Harby-Williams 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.”
“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.
“It got to the point where Donnell was then actually going to agree to wear the dress and that was simply because the pressure was too much for her to bear and as a sport I think that should be extremely disappointing for everybody.”
The $15 million sponsorship deal would have been a significant financial boost for Netball Australia, which has struggled financially through the pandemic.
Hancock Prospecting will continue to support Netball Australia for four months as it looks to find its next major sponsor. It will also pull its Roy Hill funding from the West Coast Fever, a team in Australia’s domestic Super Netball competition.
On Sunday, the Diamonds won the Constellation Cup trophy over New Zealand with a 57-53 win on the Gold Coast. The win came after the Australians lost the first two games of the four game series, making a remarkable series comeback amid heightened pressure over the sponsorship issue.