Senior netball officials suggested making an unprecedented attempt to influence the broadcast coverage of player protests staged at last weekend's round of Super Netball matches, by limiting the input of high-profile commentator and outspoken board critic Liz Ellis in particular.
Sources have confirmed the subject was raised at a forum held after Friday's bitterly contested election at Netball Australia's annual general meeting in Canberra, in which the Australian Netball Players Association's preferred candidate – former national captain Kathryn Harby-Williams – was dumped as part of a power play driven by the member organisations from Queensland and NSW.
Strike action was among retaliatory measures threatened by the players that did not eventuate; instead they formed pre-game huddles to delay the start to the round-nine matches and draw attention to their concerns over the re-cast board's independence. Respected former chairwoman Anne-Marie Corboy was removed as a director at a special general meeting earlier this month.
Fairfax Media understands the post-AGM meeting – attended by state representatives and those from privately owned clubs Collingwood and the Giants, the majority of board members and Netball Australia officials – fielded a suggestion that efforts be made to limit the commentary relating to the player action and the issues raised by the ANPA in the rancorous lead-up to the AGM.
That possibility was immediately quashed by NA chief executive Marne Fechner, who said on Thursday that, at that time, neither the governing body nor the clubs knew what form of protest the players would take. But she also confirmed that any commentary censorship was declared to be unacceptable.
"It was my view that the commentators couldn't ignore what was happening in broadcast, nor would we achieve our objective of collectively moving forward as a sport, by trying to shape the commentary or coverage around the player action," Fechner said. A bemused Ellis expressed her disappointment that the prospect of limiting the debate had even been raised, given the political stoush's media prominence throughout a headline-grabbing week.
"You can't avoid these things and it's appropriate that it was raised in the context of commentary," said the former champion defender, now an accomplished media figure.
"I'm thankful that Netball Australia did the right thing and shut the discussion down, but it probably indicates just a lack of awareness as to how broadcast works. The irony ... is that these people who had this discussion had just voted to remove a board member [Harby-Williams] who has broadcast background." Nine's head of netball, Keeley Devery, said although no attempt at meddling would ever be expected from Netball Australia, nor would one be tolerated. "Fortunately, Netball Australia wouldn't even go there; they know it would never be plausible. You can't have a story like this that is reported all week and then we pretend it's not happening ... it was something we never would have even considered," Devery said.
Netball NSW chief executive Carolyn Campbell, who attended the forum, was among those who could not recall the suggestion being made, and was adamant she would have rejected it, regardless. "I wasn't party to any discussions about that at all," she said.