Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Should Dame Noeline Taurua bother coming back to the Ferns?

Well, I wonder how those netball players who complained about Dame Noeline feel today, because what they've done has probably, let's be honest, ended her career. And also brought out a swell of support that I can't imagine they foresaw.

Silver Ferns legend Laura Langman's gone on social media and called this 'the saddest day in New Zealand netball history'.

Gordon Tietjens, the Sevens rugby legend, called us at Newstalk ZB to convey his support for Dame Noels, and former coach Yvonne Willering says Noels is not old school at all and she does listen to her players. 

Now, the details of what has happened to get to this point are fairly sketchy.

Everybody's trying to keep things quiet, but what we know is that two players complained on behalf of a group of players and that sparked a review - and that review has led to her being stood down.

And what these players have complained about is her communication style, and that they were 'psychologically unsafe'.

Now, you can probably figure out what's going on here, can't you?

We've got a generational problem, don't we? This looks to me like a generation of young players who don't like tough feedback and hard words.

For whatever reason that is, I don't know - maybe because they are the generation raised through gentle parenting techniques where mum and dad didn't want to have to say no to them, so didn't say no to them, didn't want to tell them they're being bad kids and being naughty.

And maybe they're the generation that came through the education system, the current one, where everyone gets a pass and no one experiences failure.

They are the ones who've gone and complained because they're 'psychologically unsafe'.

To which I think most of us who've experienced a little bit of life and didn't go through this nonsense with parenting and schooling would say - do you know what you need to do?

You need to grow up, you need to get hard, life is tough. You're an elite athlete, if your welfare is getting in the way of your excellence, get out of the squad.

Unfortunately for us, the person who is out of the squad is someone who understands excellence and has actually achieved a hell of a lot of excellence.

And unfortunately, she will probably stay out of the squad, even though she's only been stood down at the moment.

I mean, think about it - I can't see her coming back in.

If they have to pick between one coach and several players, they're gonna choose the several players, aren't they?

And frankly, I don't think that Dame Noels should want to come back - because if her excellence and her skills aren't appreciated by this generation of players, why bother?

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, I wonder how those netball players who complained about
Dame Nole leanfield today, because what they've done is probably,
let's be honest, end her career and also brought out
a swell of support that I can't imagine that they foresaw.
Silver Fern's legend Laura Langman's gone on social media called
this the saddest day in New Zealand netbull history. Gordon Titchens,
the sevens rugby legend, called us at News Talk ZB

(00:21):
to convey his support for Dame Knowles. Former coach Vonn
Willering says Noles is not old school at all and
she does listen to her players. Now, the details of
what has happened to get to this point are fairly sketchy.
Everybody's trying to keep things quiet. But what we know
is that two players complained on behalf of a group
of players and that sparked a review, and that review

(00:41):
has led to her being stood down. And what these
players have complained about is her communication style and that
they were psychologically unsafe. Now you can probably figure out
what's going on here, can't you. We've got a generational problem,
don't we. This looks to me like a generation of
young players who don't like tough feedback and hard words.
For whatever reason that is, I don't know. Maybe because

(01:03):
they are the generation raised through gentle parenting techniques where
mum and dad didn't want to have to say no
to them, so didn't say no to them, didn't want
to tell them they've been bad kids and being naughty.
And maybe they're the generation that came through the education system,
the current one where everyone gets a pass and no
one experiences failure. They are the ones who've gone and
complained because they're psychologically unsafe, to which I think most

(01:26):
of us who've experienced a little bit of life and
didn't go through this nonsense with parenting and schooling, would say,
do you know what you need to do. You need
to grow up, you need to get hard. Life is tough.
You're an elite athlete. If your welfare is getting in
the way of your excellence, get out of the squad. Unfortunately,
for us, the person who is out of the squad
is someone who understands excellence and has actually achieved a

(01:46):
hell of a lot of excellence, and unfortunately she will
probably stay out of the squad even though she's only
been stood down at the moment. I mean, think about it,
I can't see her coming back in if they have
to pick between one coach and several players, They're going
to choose the several players, aren't they. And frankly, I
don't think that Dame Knowles should want to come back
because if her excellence and her skills aren't appreciated by

(02:09):
this generation of players, why bother. For more from Heather
Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to News Talks A B
from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.