Almost $50,000 worth of taxpayer money was used in resolving issues in the Silver Ferns environment last year amid Dame Noeline Taurua’s standing down.
High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) funded an independent review into the elite programme to assist Netball New Zealand (NNZ), following player complaints about feeling “unsafe” in the Ferns environment.
It was conducted from late June to the end of September by former New Zealand Cricket head of high performance Bryan Stronach.
Former All Blacks manager Darren Shand and former Silver Fern Tracey Fear were also brought in as high-performance directors. Shand spent seven weeks with the Silver Ferns last year, while Fear’s term was about six months, having already been involved in the system.
Documents obtained by the Herald from the office of Sports Minister Mark Mitchell show the total cost to the taxpayer was $49,506.
HPSNZ said the money includes the fees paid to Stronach, Shand and Fear. It also covers some travel and accommodation expenses for Shand and Fear.
HPSNZ and Sport New Zealand (SNZ) chief executive Raelene Castle told the Herald these kinds of reviews are normal.
“When you do a review like this, there’s no doubt there’s always learnings for everyone in the environment, and that’s the benefit and why HPSNZ would support a review like this.
“High performance environments are very challenging places. No one gets them right all the time, and there’s always things that can be learned, and that’s why post-event reviews or post-season or post-campaign reviews are really important, to make sure that continuous learning of how you’re going to improve, as you move into the next cycle, is evaluated and implemented in the environment.”
As revealed by Newstalk ZB in November, the issues the review uncovered included players being afraid to make mistakes and speak up, mixed messages, contradictions, shifting standards, and preferential treatment for certain players.
Taurua was presented with the report, but rejected the findings. This led to a stalemate with NNZ and Taurua’s subsequent standing down in September, days out from the Taini Jamison series against South Africa.
Taurua was ultimately reinstated and cleared of wrongdoing by NNZ six weeks later.
Under the current 2025-2028 cycle, NNZ receives $2,227,000 per annum from HPSNZ to run the Silver Ferns. They also receive $918,000 per annum from SNZ to support national, regional and local community netball.
When asked if the saga has made HPSNZ rethink how much money they should invest in the sport, Castle said netball is on a slightly different cycle to the Olympic sports, as it is only in the Commonwealth Games.
“We are always looking at all of our sports with a limited budget. Obviously, there’s a consideration for performance and winning because New Zealanders want to see us winning on the world stage, but it also is environmental.
“Are sports adapting into a modern environment? Do they have better athlete voice mechanisms? How are they performing in their health checks? What decisions have they made and managed situations that are growth opportunities, but also the negatives that they’ve faced in the environment?
“So those are all of the robust conversations that we would go into around any investment period, and certainly with limited budgets, we have to be using those to make investment decisions.”
The NNZ board have had a recent exodus, with chair Matt Whineray resigning alongside members Pavan Vyas, Stephen Cottrell and Aliesha Staples.
All will stay on until replacements have been found.
NNZ are also without a permanent CEO, with Jennie Wyllie resigning in December. Interim chief executive Jane Patterson is only running the organisation until the end of the Commonwealth Games.
Castle said they have offered NNZ support in finding a new chief executive.
“We help them often with some funding to help them with a recruitment agency and ultimately advertising and the process that they go through, and often we will have a representative on the appointments panel.
“That’s a process and offer that we make to all of our investment partners, and is something that we do through our business capability team.”
Wyllie was one of three major sporting CEOs to step down last year. New Zealand Rugby boss Mark Robinson finished up at the end of last year, having announced his resignation mid-year.
The former All Black oversaw a tumultuous few years, which included heavy scrutiny over Ian Foster’s role as All Blacks coach and the introduction of American private-equity firm Silver Lake as a major shareholder.
New Zealand Cricket chief executive Scott Weenink left his post a day after Wyllie. In his own words, Weenink’s exit came after a fundamental misalignment with New Zealand’s six Major Associations and the Players’ Association on the best route forward for the sport.
Castle is a former CEO of NNZ and Rugby Australia. She said the timing of the three headline resignations is a coincidence.
“But these are not easy roles. They’re very public, they garner a lot of media interest, they are federated models with members who equally want to see leadership and support for their sport.
“They do create a very public focus, and often there’s a time limit attached to those. So sometimes you do your moment, and then it’s time to move on.”
Despite the controversy all three CEOs had to manage, Castle does not think it will put off potential candidates to replace them.
“Whilst there is a portion of your role that is always challenging and you have to deal with controversy, the satisfaction of working in sport where you make a difference, you help the lives of young people or fans, win on the world stage, people go into refereeing or volunteering or umpiring or be sports administrators.
“By far and away, the positives of being a sports administrator outweigh the negatives. It’s just that often the negatives tend to be very public.”
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.