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etball Australia has announced the launch of an independent review to holistically consider the State of the Game, in order to reset the sport’s strategy following the impact of COVID-19.

The review will be chaired by former Australian netball captain, Liz Ellis, and will canvas the views and experiences of the wide range of customer and stakeholder groups across netball in Australia, to help ensure the sustainability, prosperity, and relevance of the sport.

Joining Ellis on the review panel is Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, experienced non-executive director and former MP, Wendy Machin, and experienced non-executive director, CEO, CMO and media executive, Joe Pollard.

Netball Australia CEO, Marne Fechner, said the review comes at a crucial time for the future of netball in Australia, coming out of COVID-19.

“The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant financial impact on the netball ecosystem and comes at a time when the competition to own the hearts and minds of women in sport is at an all-time high,” Fechner said.

“Without action, parts of netball will encounter considerable financial uncertainty.

“So, faced with this reality, the sport will take steps to ensure its not only future proofed, but that our strategy leading into 2027, our centenary, is designed to strengthen the entire netball community.

“Across the next two months our aim is to capture the voices and experiences of our entire Australian netball family at a scale that hasn’t been done before.

“We want to listen to their stories and understand what makes the sport great and where we can do better.

“Most importantly, we want to capture a collective ambition for our game and, in doing so, shape our future,” she said.

Panel chair, Liz Ellis, said the State of the Game Review will help build strong, innovative strategies in the lead up to 2027, when Australia hopes to host the Netball World Cup in Sydney.

“Netball is the pre-eminent sport of choice for Australian women and girls, but like all sports, netball has experienced significant financial pressure across the system as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ellis said.

“This review is an opportunity, not only to capture the pulse of the netball nation, but to understand what’s most important to people that love netball, from elite through to grass-roots, social, mixed and men’s netball.

“It’s also a chance to also understand what our commercial partners see as the future of our business.

“We need to ensure the sport has a contemporary strategy and structure.

“This is a unique opportunity for the sport to re-imagine and if necessary, reshape relevant features to ensure we can all bounce back stronger together,” she said.

The terms of reference for the panel to consider are:

• Netball’s value proposition and critical pain points
• The alignment between customer and stakeholder insight and the sport’s purpose, vision and strategy
• The culture of netball in Australia
• The financial, delivery and commercial model of netball in Australia
• The optimal future governance structure of netball (Netball Australia, Member Organisations, associations, clubs, Suncorp Super Netball, and Suncorp Super Netball clubs)
• The roles of each entity in the netball ecosystem
• Any other matter that would best serve netball in Australia

It is expected the panel will provide the first set of recommendations and comments to Netball Australia by the end of September 2020, with Netball Australia inviting all netball fans, participants, volunteers, and anyone involved in the sport to provide input for the review.