Key Netball Australia sponsors have denied reports they are considering walking away from the code after Gina Rinehart’s mining firm Hancock Prospecting pulled out of a $15m funding deal, because of player concerns about its record on Indigenous affairs.
The saga over the mining billionaire’s sponsorship of Netball Australia came to a head on Saturday after her company announced it was withdrawing from its $15m funding deal.
It followed reports Indigenous player Donnell Wallam and her Australian Diamonds teammates had expressed discomfort about wearing the company’s logo on their uniforms, due to concerns about its record on Indigenous issues.
The decision to withdraw the funding – as well as sponsorship agreements with Netball Western Australia and the West Coast Fever team – is a severe blow to the code, which has suffered losses of more than $7m in two Covid-affected years.
Reports on Monday suggested other sponsors were considering pulling out, quoting anonymous sources suggesting the saga could cost the code an additional $10m.
But major sponsors have confirmed they intend to stand by the sport. Principal sponsor Suncorp said it was “very proud” to be associated with the sport.
“Suncorp is very proud of our longstanding principal partnership of Netball Australia, as the leading women’s team sport in participation and our commitment to supporting the game from the grassroots community level through to Suncorp Super Netball, and the national Diamonds team,” a company spokesperson said.
“As a sponsor, Suncorp is not responsible for the sport’s commercial and operational decisions that fall under Netball Australia’s governance.”
Other major sponsors echoed those comments. Insurance firm HCF said it was “proud” of its partnership with the code, which had seen it “empower those within the netball community to lead healthier, more active lives” over the last four years.
“We’re proud of this partnership and are currently in commercial discussions with Netball Australia regarding future seasons of sponsorship,” HCF said.
Naming sponsor Origin Energy confirmed it would remain an active supporter.
Major sponsor Nissan said it recently extended its sponsorship for a further five years.
“We are proud this support spans from grassroots to international competition for the biggest female sport in Australia,” a spokesperson said.
It comes as the head of the Netball Player’s Association, Kathryn Harby-Williams, said a compromise had been struck between the code’s governing body and the Diamonds prior to Hancock’s decision.
Harby-Williams told ABC’s grandstand that the players had been willing to wear the company’s logo on its uniforms during the Constellation Cup against New Zealand, which the Diamonds won on Sunday.
“We had come to an agreement with Netball Australia where everyone was comfortable that would happen and that Donnell and the players would not be required to wear the logo against England in the three-match series starting shortly,” Harby-Williams said.
“At no point in time did the players seek to have the deal fall off the table but we were certainly willing to come to a compromise and had agreed to that shortly after the players stood by Donnell.”
In two lengthy statements issued over the weekend, Hancock and Rinehart defended their record on Indigenous affairs, pointing to separate funding initiatives, saying it was “unnecessary for sports organisations to be used as the vehicle for social or political causes”.
It said there were “more targeted and genuine ways to progress social or political causes without virtue signalling or for self-publicity”.
In 1984 Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, the founder of Hancock Prospecting, suggested Indigenous Australians be sterilised to “breed themselves out”.
In the interview, Hancock said: “Those that have been assimilated into, you know, earning [a] good living or earning wages amongst the civilised areas, those that have been accepted into society and they have accepted society and can handle society, I’d leave them well alone”.
“The ones that are no good to themselves and can’t accept things, the half-castes – and this is where most of the trouble comes – I would dope the water up so that they were sterile and would breed themselves out in future and that would solve the problem.”
