Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright once wrote: “In a society where women often feel pressured to tear one another down, our saving grace lies in our willingness to lift one another up.”
That feminist disposition was writ large this week in an extraordinary act of solidarity by Australia’s cricketers – headlined by its female players – towards the country’s elite netballers.
After months of behind-the-scenes support, the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) has offered to set up a six-figure fund to help Super Netball athletes, all currently out of contract and entangled in a protracted and acrimonious industrial dispute with employer Netball Australia.
Wednesday’s announcement came after cricket star Alyssa Healy spoke on national television at the weekend in support of the netballers and their union, the Australian Netball Players’ Association (ANPA).
The ANPA wants a hybrid revenue share model to “give netballers a fair share of the sport’s sponsorship revenue” in Super Netball but talks on a new collective player agreement (CPA), which began in February, have failed and are headed to mediation.
All Super Netball players – aside from those also contracted to national teams, such as the Diamonds and the FAST5 side – became unemployed and unpaid on 30 September and await the signing of the CPA.
With lives and livelihoods in limbo, many players face stark financial decisions, despite most having in-principle agreements with clubs for the 2024 season. With the lowest-paid netballer earning around $40,000 a year, the pressure is real and intensifying.
That makes cricket’s intervention a pull shot over square leg for six – a thing of beauty. The quiet support in recent months was one thing. Healy’s kind words on ABC’s Offsiders program were another. Her association’s public “unequivocal support” for the netballers and a commitment to ask other player associations to join the fight were yet another.
But that female – and male – cricketers have committed to putting their hands in their pockets to create a reported $200,000 fund for “netballers to draw on during this period of unemployment, as well as other operational resources” represents an unprecedented moment of unanimity.
It is the definition of the ubiquitous labour movement hope that “the workers united, will never be defeated” and plainly dispels the misconception that sporting codes, especially leading female codes, are unwilling or unable to support each other. That notion is out, as it were.
In practical terms, the fund will release the economic pressure valve for those currently relying on friends and family. But as highlighted by ANPA chief executive Kathryn Harby-Williams – a rugged defender in her Diamonds days – it signals that players are not alone.
The idea for the fund, which initially came from the ACA executive but has the full backing of players, has moved elite netballers players, past and present, as well as fans.
Former Diamonds shooter Nat Medhurst, who now works part-time as a player development manager at WA Cricket, described being “completely blown away by this unprecedented show of support by our cricketers” on social media.
Another Diamonds great, Madi Browne, also welcomed the move online, but added her disappointment that the sport “is still in this position”.
Caitlin Bassett, who retired from international netball in 2022 after 102 Tests, and is now a player development manager for Cricket NSW, expressed her gratitude to the cricketers, “who not only played a huge role in my transition out of netball but are now supporting the current players”.
Those players are said to be buoyed by the news and hope it can move the needle on the CPA dispute, which has descended into something of a public relations war. At this point, any circuit breaker must be a good thing.
It’s not lost on anyone in the netball world, of course, that Australian cricketers are currently reaping the benefits of a revenue-share model after a similar messy pay dispute with Cricket Australia in 2017. That was the foundation of the alliance.
“The ACA believes they should be given the same partnership opportunities as our players – the same opportunities that has seen cricket thrive,” ACA chief executive Todd Greenberg said of the netballers.
With their own boats lifted, cricketers are seeking to keep netballers afloat in theirs. And in their act of sporting solidarity, they have also appropriated a saying that’s intrinsically netball – “here if you need”.
