For all the AMAZING things we have seen & witnessed in the netball community this year, December has shown we still have a long way to go before Netball can be taken seriously as a global sport.
The errors, unfortunate as they are, come from different ends of the spectrum, in fact different sides of the world. But the impact should not be underestimated - especially when Suncorp SuperNetball franchises are up for renewal at the end of 2021, breakdancing has entered into the Olympics before our great sport and we continue to struggle for exposure & meaningful sponsorship.
We’ll start simple with the poster for the upcoming Roses Legends Test against Jamaica. Have you spotted the mistake yet? It’s been the talk of Twitter! It is of course, the image of seriously talented, George Fisher taking a shot...........in a WD bib!
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It’s not just at home that these mistakes are being made and expectations not met.
I’ve woken up today to a furore from Australia as the much downloaded NetballLive App has seemingly increased its price by around 500% overnight!
I’m a big fan of the App, having paid £13.99 for a years pass for the last few years. It’s great value for money not just matches from the SSN but Tests and Constellation Cup matches too. The response has not been positive & it will be interesting what the take up is with the annual subscription no longer available.
Also Down Under we’ve seen sanctions against Perth-based West Coast Fever as they have been found ‘cheating’ the salary cap and have now been deducted nine points before the 2021 season starts! https://supernetball.com.au/news/west-coast-fever-sanctioned-salary-cap-breach
Diamonds legend Sharni Layton makes the point that maybe we shouldn’t have a salary cap, particularly if two teams this year have been found breaking it. Maybe a salary cap is, in part, holding back our sport?
Sigh.
My own frustration centres on the ease that some of these errors can be rectified or apologised for. The Roses Legends poster is a great example.
Firstly, why isn’t there a process where marketing and promotional material is double or triple checked before publication? I come from a marketing background and it’s surely commonplace in any organisation wanting to succeed? And even if it did slip through those safety nets - human error is a fact of life, why hasn’t there been a quick website update or social media post along the lines of
‘Whoops, we’re really sorry an error has obviously been made! Thanks to all those who have pointed it out, here’s the rectified image, please share this in future!’
Surely the netball family, after every thing we’ve done this year, deserve a bit of honesty? I think they’d probably appreciate it too.
So, we come to the recent Goalden Globes, the EN ‘Oscars’ celebrating all that are volunteers.
I’ll be honest, I was in two minds including this in today’s blog but conversations with more than one volunteer, who have been really disappointed, have persuaded me to include the following:
If there is one year where we should be really pushing the boat out to thank our volunteers, it’s 2020. There are just not enough adjectives and I am not a good enough blogger to do them justice.
The fact that the awards even took place, albeit online, is remarkable and huge plaudits to those who got it done. It’s an incredible feat.
It was a huge opportunity to go above and beyond for volunteers just as they have gone above and beyond for netball.
In many ways the awards did tick many ‘well done’ and ‘thank you’ boxes. There were even surprise gift boxes delivered in the day’s leading up to and following the presentation. I don’t think that’s ever been done before and was certainly appreciated by those who received them.
When you organise something so huge and so important though it has to all be right, there is no room for error or misinterpretation.
Criticisms include the the difference in nominations / shortlisting for the #RiseAgain Hero award compared to other categories. Also that in previous years all Long Service nominees have been acknowledged, this year we had winners.
For me, these criticisms are all about managing expectations.
There are also those nominated who have still not received their gift at the time of writing - as much as it’s a lovely gesture, it’s not fair if only some people are receiving them.
My own opinion, having sat through all of the live YouTube broadcast was that for much of it we were really celebrating the efforts and achievements of the netball community. There were some fab, inspiring stories and really deserving recipients.
There was also too much time, in my opinion, spent rewarding people for doing their jobs. I’m not saying that they haven’t done their jobs well but I thought the whole point of Goalden Globes was to celebrate volunteers.
For me, the song & dance made of a said few took the shine off the majority who really deserved to be made a fuss of.
Maybe December has just been a bad month. Maybe 2020 has just made me, and others, more cynical and we need to turn our frowns upside down!
I do think that if any volunteer, even if it’s only one, is left disappointed after an awards ceremony that is meant to thank & celebrate volunteering, that is one too many.
I also think that netball only has so many opportunities to break down that glass ceiling & fulfil the potential we have been banging on about for years. We’ve made great, great strides but we have to stop tripping ourselves up to realise and achieve what we are really capable of.
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