Smoke and mirrors
The application process on “Zeil” immediately captures attention with the image of a dishevelled pantsuit lying on the ground, reminiscent of products formerly listed on the Southern Steel’s website.
An energising job description follows, in which the writer shows genuine passion and issues a call, particularly to women, to take ownership and “dominate globally”. They point to a clear objective of bringing Kiwi players back from overseas and showing the younger generation a clear path to professionalism.
“Every girl who steps onto a court in this country should be able to see a straight line from where she stands to the very top of the world game, and we intend to build that line, pass bypass, until it can’t be denied.
“We stand for ambition. For backing our own to dominate globally. For a game that appreciates the women who play it, keeps them in NZ, and sends them out into the world as champions, not exports.
“This isn’t nostalgia for what netball was. It’s a platform for what it’s going to become.”
A slightly bizarre list of job benefits follows. As a keen drinker and watermelon enthusiast, “Fruit box”, “Free drinks” and “Care and Appreciation” particularly caught my eye.
It remains unclear whether the successful candidate will get a new fruit box every day or once, upon arrival.
It is unclear whether the successful candidate will get a new fruit box every day or once, upon arrival.
I was too lazy to create a CV but thankfully Zeil provides an AI-driven CV generator. I simply entered my relevant skills – being a sports journalist, social indoor netball participant and social media creator – and voila!
AI added to my “social indoor netball” experience that I can: “Coordinate, manage, and facilitate competitive social netball programs, ensuring smooth operations and fostering community participation.” I’ve never done any of those things, but it should give my application a little more clout.
Crafting an enticing cover letter with my fairly limited adult work experience appeared an unenviable task, and quite frankly, I couldn’t be bothered. Luckily, Zeil’s built-in AI cover letter generator wrote me a unique manifesto, and all I had to do was select the tone. I went with “humorous”.
Artificial intelligence dressed up a fairly average collection of semi-relevant experience.
I was particularly impressed with the AI’s summation of my apparent strengths, including “having opinions” and “maintaining strong relationships with people who may not always enjoy reading what I have written about them”.
Satisfied with my work, I moved on to the all-important “Application Questions”. It’s a slightly misleading title, as there appeared to be only one question.
“1. What excites you about the opportunity to build and lead a new netball league?”
Hoping to showcase my nous for the business side of the sport, I pointed to two of the defunct ANZ Premiership’s bizarre primary sponsors, Summerset Retirement Villages and Waste Management. To me, these seemed like odd branding alignments. I am unsure exactly what rubbish collection has to do with netball’s athletes or audience, but I suppose everyone has to put the bins out now and then.
Don’t let the title fool you: there is only one question.
If I were in charge, I would attempt to recruit some vaguely more relevant sponsors. Women’s brands like Lululemon, Lorna Jane or even Puma, which makes the Silver Ferns’ dresses, may be more appropriate. It’s one of my more radical ideas, and admittedly, netball may not be ready for such a change.
Nowhere in the application process was there an option to provide references, which is probably to my advantage.
A genuine candidate
In all seriousness, Williams and Mowbray need to appoint someone with a proven track record of course correction in sports leadership. Netball cannot settle for a caretaker when the league is starting from ground zero and attempting to repair the sport’s reputation.
A potential candidate is Cycling New Zealand chief executive Simon Peterson. The former cricketer led Rowing New Zealand for 12 years, redeveloping the high-performance programme in Cambridge and overseeing a highly successful decade at pinnacle events, including the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Peterson managed a public falling-out with legendary New Zealand coach Dick Tonks (sound familiar…?) in the lead-up to the Rio Games, but Mahé Drysdale and men’s pair Hamish Bond and Eric Murray clinched gold anyway.
Simon Peterson has experience leading sports organisations out of turbulent times at Rowing NZ and Cycling NZ. Photo / Photosport
Peterson took the helm of Cycling NZ in 2023, tasked with leading a rebuild after a damning review into the organisation’s high-performance programme. New Zealand went on to win five medals in the velodrome at the 2024 Paris Olympics, headlined by Ellesse Andrews’ two golds.
Whoever Mowbray and Williams appoint, they must bring a business-minded approach, understand their audience, be confident negotiating an evolving broadcast environment and dare to make radical changes.
Nathan Limm has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.