The Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) has committed to establishing a six-figure “fighting fund” for Australian netballers amid a pay dispute between the players union and Netball Australia (NA).
Players in the Suncorp Super Netball, as well as Australia’s national team The Diamonds, have been off-contract since September 30. For just over three weeks, the Australian Netball Players’ Association (ANPA) have been fighting for a revenue-sharing payment model.
Meanwhile, last week, NA offered what they referred to as a “groundbreaking” Collective Players Agreement (CPA) proposal to ANPA, based on a profit-sharing model. This would mean NA would only distribute profits to players for payment, rather than total revenue.
In 2017, the ACA were involved in a similar dispute for professional cricketers in the women’s competitions. In show of solidarity with fellow female athletes, ACA’s CEO Todd Greenberg announced the “fighting find” to support netballers during the pay dispute, a fund to the tune of $200,000, according to the ABC.
“Much like our female players in 2017, the netballers at the moment are leaning on friends and family for financial support,” Greenberg said.
“What is disappointing is that the netballers’ requests are modest and affordable for the sport.
“The ACA believes they should be given the same partnership opportunities as our players — the same opportunities that have seen cricket thrive.
“The ACA stands with the netballers and will do so until this campaign is successful.”
The CEO of ANPA and former Australian Diamonds captain Kathryn Harby-Williams said netballers in Australia are “brave and resilient people”, despite the extreme pay deficit between their fellow Australian athletes, and thanked ACA for its support.
“When our minimum wage is $40,000 you have to show a lot of courage to take a stand,” Harby-Williams said.
“That’s why this expression of support is so welcome. It lets the netballers know they are not alone.”
In August this year, the Australian Diamonds won the 2023 Netball World Cup, however, received no prize money for their efforts.
Australian cricket captain Alyssa Healy attended the Constellation Cup match between the Australian Diamonds and the New Zealand Silver Ferns in Melbourne last week. She said it was “really sad” to see how much support and sponsorship there is for the game and, in contrast, how little players were paid.
"It makes me really sad."
— ABC SPORT (@abcsport) October 15, 2023
Australian women's cricket captain Alyssa Healy weighs in on the netball pay dispute
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“I was there the other night, I was watching the game, I was a fan of the game,” she said on ABC’s Offsiders on the weekend.
“I’m sitting there, I’m watching, 10,000 people there, sponsors everywhere. The product (is) amazing, the line to the merchandise out the door.
“Netball has got to have money. Surely there’s got to be money coming in. I refuse to believe it’s a poor sport at the moment.
“As a female athlete, watching netball go through that makes me really sad.”
NA released a statement last week, claiming the ANPA rejected a “groundbreaking” proposal for players.
“The Suncorp Super Netball League is an incredible competition. It is the best netball league in the world,” the statement read.
“However, Netball Australia and the eight clubs have simply reached their capacity to make further concessions to the ANPA and players without jeopardising the health of the league and its teams, their respective stakeholders, and the entire netball ecosystem in Australia.”