A Perth parent may take a local netball association to court after claiming their daughter did not get enough court time during a finals match last year.
WAtoday understands the girl was playing in a junior sports program for an unnamed netball club at the Joondalup Netball Association.
During a finals match, she was only selected to come on court for half of the game.
As a result of the coaching decision, the parent took their complaint to the Joondalup Netball Association.
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A member of the JNA said the process was 'sad' but after failing to reach mediation, it is understood the matter was escalated to Netball WA, and according to Australian disciplinary processes may now be passed on to the Court of Arbitration if not resolved.
A Netball WA spokesperson said while they could not comment where the case had progressed to, they were working towards mediation.
"Netball WA is aware of the incident in question. The governing body has undertaken significant work as a facilitator between the family, the club, the association and the region, and while we have made progress toward a resolution, we still consider this to be an ongoing process."
Many netball clubs in WA operate on a one-quarter-only selection process during finals games in order to ensure a 'best team on court' scenario, and finals matches are only played when players reach the 13-and-over age group.
However, WAtoday understands the player in question belonged to a club which had not developed and publicised its own selection policy or by-law, and the parent was able to escalate their complaint based on the Netball Australia policy of 'fair play'.
A Department of Sports and Recreation spokesperson said they too had become involved in settling the dispute.
"The Department has been made aware of this situation at Joondalup Netball Association and is working with Netball WA," they said.
"While we cannot comment specifically about this case, as per our policy around junior sport, the Department expects that junior sports programs should be based on the principle of quality of participation."
Netball WA said they could not comment on what a possible resolution would entail as the mediation was ongoing.
West Australian Federation of Sports chief executive officer Robert Thompson said the Court of Arbitration is typically used to settle disputes regarding selection, but he had never known community sport 'to take it to this level'.
According to a report by Australian Sports Commission senior research consultant Dr Ralph Richards, the Court of Arbitration for Sport is a last resort.
"When internal appeals are exhausted the Court of Arbitration for Sport provides a final level of adjudication, provided CAS is the appeals body specified in the relevant selection policy.
"Both parties in a dispute (athlete and sport organisation) may agree to refer a dispute to CAS for a final decision."
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