{"id":652305,"date":"2026-11-05T23:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T23:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/652305\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T23:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T23:54:11","slug":"silver-ferns-parris-mason-and-martina-salmon-on-mental-toll-of-netball-nzs-domestic-league-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/652305\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Ferns Parris Mason and Martina Salmon on mental toll of Netball NZ\u2019s domestic league saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand Netball Players Association (NZNPA) boss Pippa Moore has urged NNZ to resume talks with Williams and Mowbray<\/a> and wants the players involved in efforts to salvage the deal.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Zealand Netball Players’ Association general manager Pippa Moore (left) has urged NNZ to resume talks with Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray, and allow the PA to mediate. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

Moore last week expressed concern for the athletes\u2019 mental health<\/a>, due to further uncertainty over their jobs.<\/p>\n

The players had previously been receiving positive, weekly updates from the NZNPA about the private league\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

Mason, who featured in the Silver Ferns\u2019 3-1 Constellation Cup series victory<\/a> over the Australian Diamonds, said they were completely blindsided when NNZ walked away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just devastating. The tears immediately came out. The reality of the complete uncertainty that\u2019s about to face a big group of us players hit quite hard. It was extremely sad and devastating to hear that once again we\u2019re put in a place of, \u2018What do we do next?\u2019 We\u2019re just completely lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of us have been shocked and shattered by the news. At every level there\u2019s an impact, and it\u2019s just been hard for the whole collective to handle everyone\u2019s different emotions. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut overall, everyone\u2019s super heartbroken that we\u2019ve just lost a big part of who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SilverSilver Ferns defender Parris Mason said hearing of NNZ’s decision to walk away from the private domestic competition was “devastating”. Photo \/ Bruce White, Photosport<\/p>\n

Salmon said she will probably contact a psychologist for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so upset and low-key kind of heartbroken. I just cried straight away, and my husband was away at uni, so I had no one to talk to about it and just, yeah, kind of bawled my eyes out. The first people I rang were Carys Stythe and Amelia Walmsley.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had seen some of the models of what it was going to look like and man, I was honestly so excited, and I think a lot of the players were excited. I\u2019m gutted. I still can\u2019t believe that they\u2019ve just pulled the pin that easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mason said the saga has weighed on her personally, particularly in the last couple of months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really have words to put how much stress and the toll it\u2019s taking on all our mental health just having to face so much uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really hard watching your best mates go overseas, and you\u2019re so excited for them, and you\u2019re happy for their journey, but also the reality that you don\u2019t get to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just super sad and super hard for me to deal with, considering all I\u2019ve ever wanted to do is play netball. To get my head around that that may not be a possibility for me next year is super, super hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salmon echoed Mason\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe uncertainty is low-key taking a mental toll on not only myself but a lot of us players. Especially with the World Cup being next year, not sure if we\u2019re going to have a good lead-up to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MartinaMartina Salmon said she will probably reach out to a psychologist for help. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Salmon was talking to clubs in Australia before ultimately deciding to stay in New Zealand to be close to family. While Mason could not confirm if she was talking to overseas teams, she admitted: \u201cThere were definitely some missed opportunities for myself\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mason said she is unsure what she will do next year, after placing her faith in NNZ to get a professional competition over the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had confidence, so lots of us probably missed opportunities that now we probably regret not taking. So that\u2019s also another hard space to deal with. And now we\u2019re out here trying to scramble and be willing to take anything for an opportunity to stay in the sport and to continue doing what we love.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NZNPA have assisted some players with finding financial assistance.<\/p>\n

The Herald last week spoke to an anonymous, fully contracted ANZ Premiership athlete who spent two to three months on the Government\u2019s Jobseeker benefit<\/a> while she looked for work. The player is from Auckland but has moved away from family to represent another region and is weighing up whether to give up on netball and return home.<\/p>\n

Wootten admitted to the Herald she did not realise players were using Government support. Central Pulse boss Ann Hay was also unaware, but unsurprised.<\/p>\n

Both Mason and Salmon knew.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it should be no secret, and it shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise that franchise league players will be struggling,\u201d Mason said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s our income, and most of the time we roll back-to-back contracts and you\u2019re getting paid full year-round.<\/p>\n

\"BothBoth Parris Mason and Martina Salmon knew some ANZ Premiership players were using Government support. Photo: Andrew Cornaga \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a huge majority of us, this is our primary income, and to lose that is extremely hard for everyone. So, that is where we\u2019re having to turn at this rate. Government is probably where we\u2019re going to have to go for that financial support because we\u2019ve got nowhere else.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve given everything to the sport, and that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean we\u2019ve sought other options in terms of being able to find jobs or studying, because we\u2019ve always had netball. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be a lot of franchise players, a lot of young ones that depend heavily on our franchise income. And unfortunately with that not coming, and well, it\u2019s not coming anytime soon, I can imagine that the financial stress and the financial pressure is going to be huge for a lot of players amongst the group, which is going to continually roll onto the effect of our mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salmon said the uncertainty over whether they have futures in the sport makes finding other work tricky.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have a contract thrown at us now; we could get a contract thrown at us in a couple months. So obviously finding a job, you\u2019re going to have to have a contract with them too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t blame them for going on the dole. Not having answers really is frustrating.\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 Newstalk ZB Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand Netball Players Association (NZNPA) boss Pippa Moore has urged NNZ to resume talks with Williams and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95,4596,29861,14736,10541,305,42,14731,268112,168015,1885,16762,43,3272,1118,90,6379,1864,311586,43209,19996,9621,7457,7235,42032,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-652305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-and","tag-competition","tag-confirm","tag-domestic","tag-ferns","tag-have","tag-headlines","tag-league","tag-martina","tag-mason","tag-mental","tag-netball","tag-news","tag-nzs","tag-of","tag-on","tag-ongoing","tag-opened","tag-parris","tag-psychological","tag-saga","tag-salmon","tag-silver","tag-struggle","tag-toll","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652305","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=652305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}