Tauranga Netball Centre board chair Nicola Compton told the Herald her board was hopeful other zones would follow suit.<\/p>\n
Nicola Compton: “We’re the stakeholders. There is no Netball New Zealand without us.” Photo \/ Bay of Plenty Times<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had some informal conversations, and we do know that one other zone is quite keen, but they\u2019re kind of sitting back waiting to see what happens with us, because we\u2019ve taken the step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once NNZ receives formal notice of the request for a Special General Meeting, it is required to action it with 21 days\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n
If two other zones joined the call, Compton said the national meeting would likely take place in the New Year.<\/p>\n
The board chair said her board has no faith in Wyllie or the NNZ board to lead the sport forward with sufficient strategic vision.<\/p>\n
In response, NNZ said its netball community is \u201crobust and passionate\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always going to listen to and engage with those who speak openly and honestly \u2013 kanohi te kanohi [face to face]. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe beauty of the netball constitutional structure at all levels (NNZ, zones and centres) is that there are ways, both formal and informal, for the netball community to raise issues that are of concern to them \u2013 we will, and do, engage with our community through those channels and listen to their concerns.\u201d <\/p>\n
Compton said there are three key areas of concern, starting with the ANZ Premiership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the pinnacle domestic netball competition and critical development pathway for Silver Ferns, and there just seems to be a lack of planning or at least an absence of communication about any planning about what\u2019s happening with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Athletes, coaches and staff were left in the dark over the competition\u2019s future, with the new, one-year television broadcast deal with TVNZ only confirmed in late July.<\/p>\n
Wyllie confirmed to the Herald at the time NNZ will have to use cash reserves to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
Compton said her region has not received any information from the governing body about the deal.<\/p>\n
Netball New Zealand chief executive Jennie Wyllie (left) with Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
The final major concern is the standing-down of Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua<\/a> and the handling of that process through the media.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just felt it demonstrated a lack of leadership. There was an absence of transparency or due process. There was no consistent communication and we just feel like that\u2019s really harmed the sport both reputationally and financially. There should have been decisive and competent leadership, and we didn\u2019t see that,\u201d Compton said.<\/p>\n \u201cNoeline Taurua should have been part of the review process. And from what we\u2019re hearing, it sounds like she wasn\u2019t. If you\u2019re going to hide behind \u2018it\u2019s an employment issue\u2019, and any employment issue, if there\u2019s a concern raised, the person that it\u2019s been raised about has the right of reply, and I don\u2019t believe that happened.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should have been communicated. Noeline\u2019s the type of person that would own it if there\u2019s something going on. I think that could have been handled a whole lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n Compton said NNZ needed to be more transparent and communicate with its stakeholders.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just feels like a lot of stuff is done behind closed doors and then we hear about it after. We don\u2019t feel like we get the full picture. Particularly, those last incidents, it was just like there was silence. Of course, people are going to speculate and there were a lot of keyboard warriors out there.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of it was pretty nasty, but without any kind of concrete direction or communication from Netball New Zealand, that\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Compton said her region\u2019s concern was with Wyllie and NNZ\u2019s board, but the rest of the leadership seemed okay.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other people that we interact with \u2013 the head of community netball, umpiring and coaching \u2013 they all seem like those at the community level are fine.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, six current and former NNZ staff spoke to the Herald<\/a> with concerns about the organisation\u2019s workplace culture, and called for an overhaul of the board.<\/p>\n The sources \u2013 who wished to remain anonymous \u2013 described a challenging and secretive environment.<\/p>\n They called for an overhaul of the board to introduce greater accountability.<\/p>\n Compton said the report was worrying.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the staff are talking about a toxic kind of environment or an environment of fear, that comes from the top, and that is not a great way to lead an organisation. You\u2019re not going to get the best out of people if they\u2019re too scared to say what they think.\u201d<\/p>\n Compton said all five netball zones should be involved in the process to elect new leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether there\u2019s a representative from each of those zones, along with other senior leaders within Netball New Zealand, should be part of that process.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re the stakeholders. There is no Netball New Zealand without us.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan Limm<\/a> 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<\/a> and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tauranga Netball Centre board chair Nicola Compton told the Herald her board was hopeful other zones would follow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[432,9092,26652,106643,96407,2944,1043,106644,16762,117,111,43,139,69,106642,2170,106645,223,61,80,2963,30209],"class_list":["post-162218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-action","tag-against","tag-aotearoas","tag-bodys","tag-governing","tag-inside","tag-leadership","tag-mobilising","tag-netball","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-overthrow","tag-plan","tag-revolt","tag-the","tag-to","tag-zealand","tag-zealands","tag-zones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}