The Waikato Bay of Plenty Zone has formalised taking the first step towards a cleanout of the Netball New Zealand leadership.
A majority of the zone’s centres have voted for a national Special General Meeting, at which a vote of no confidence in Netball New Zealand (NNZ) CEO Jennie Wyllie and the board can take place.
Two other zones must follow suit for the meeting to take place, with NNZ required to action the motion with 21 days’ notice.
It comes after Tauranga Netball Centre board chair Nicola Compton declared her organisation had lost faith in the governing body due to a perceived lack of leadership and transparency.
She cited the handling of Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua’s standing-down, a lack of planning around the ANZ Premiership and the struggle to secure long-term broadcast deals.
Compton told the Herald she could not reveal any details about the meeting, only that the motion was successful and her organisation felt heard by the governing body.
“Always confident that we can resolve things. I’m just sad that it had to take this kind of process to get there, but we have. We’ve been heard, and I’m hopeful that things will improve from here.
“We’ve achieved our goal. We just hope that two other zones will follow suit. But we can’t predict the outcome of that, nor can we influence it.”
Waikato Bay of Plenty and NNZ released a joint statement on Sunday, in which Compton said it was a good outcome.
“We felt it was important to exercise our constitutional right and ensure our voices were heard. Our intention has always been to represent our members with integrity and clarity, and to place the wellbeing of our zone and our sport at the forefront of this process.”
In the joint statement, NNZ board chair Matt Whineray said: “Netball New Zealand has heard the message from our Waikato Bay of Plenty centres and will work hard to reset and reconnect our relationship with all of our centres. We will continue to work with them and our zones as we face into the challenges and opportunities for our sport.”
When speaking to the Herald two weeks ago, Compton said her zone has had informal conversations, and one other zone was “quite keen” to formalise its own request.
She said the ANZ Premiership was a major area of concern.
“This 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’s happening with that.”
Athletes, coaches and staff were left in the dark over the competition’s future, with the new, one-year television broadcast deal with TVNZ only confirmed in late July.
Wyllie confirmed to the Herald at the time that NNZ will have to use cash reserves to make ends meet.
Compton also pointed to Taurua’s banishment and the handling of that process through the media.
“We just felt it demonstrated a lack of leadership. There was an absence of transparency or due process. There was no consistent communication and we feel like that’s really harmed the sport both reputationally and financially. There should have been decisive and competent leadership, and we didn’t see that,” Compton said.
“Noeline Taurua should have been part of the review process. And from what we’re hearing, it sounds like she wasn’t. If you’re going to hide behind ‘it’s an employment issue’, and any employment issue, if there’s a concern raised, the person that it’s been raised about has the right of reply, and I don’t believe that happened.
“It should have been communicated. Noeline’s the type of person that would own it if there’s something going on. I think that could have been handled a whole lot better.”
Compton said NNZ needed to be more transparent and communicate with its stakeholders.
“It just feels like a lot of stuff is done behind closed doors and then we hear about it after. We don’t 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.
“Some of it was pretty nasty, but without any kind of concrete direction or communication from Netball New Zealand, that’s what’s going to happen.”
Compton said her region’s concern was with Wyllie and NNZ’s board, but the rest of the leadership seemed okay.
“The other people that we interact with – the head of community netball, umpiring and coaching – they all seem like those at the community level are fine.”
Last month, six current and former NNZ staff spoke to the Herald with concerns about the organisation’s workplace culture and called for an overhaul of the board.
The sources – who wished to remain anonymous – described a challenging and secretive environment.
They called for an overhaul of the board to introduce greater accountability.
Compton said the report was worrying.
“If 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’re not going to get the best out of people if they’re too scared to say what they think.”
Compton said all five netball zones should be involved in the process to elect new leadership.
“Whether there’s a representative from each of those zones, along with other senior leaders within Netball New Zealand, [that] should be part of that process.
“We’re the stakeholders. There is no Netball New Zealand without us.”
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.