D'Arcy Waldegrave: Netball NZ's poor management of the Taurua situation

It’s been quite the week for Netball New Zealand. The walls came crashing in on Wednesday when it was announced that super coach Noeline Taurua was stood down in the shadow of an investigation into the Silver Ferns high performance programme and environment.  

The statement was as abrupt as it was unexpected.  

Netball went into a tailspin as the whole sport, from deep inside to the exterior, flailed about trying to make sense of what had just happened.  

And we couldn’t.  

It was a mess. It was clumsy at best, although negligent would be a better description of the handling of the situation. I will give them this though, the lid was well and truly sealed on this chaos. Short of those deep in the interior of this schism, no one knew, or at least no one leaked anything. Then the can sprang open, and the snake popped out to everyone's shock.   

I understand that at the heart of this issue is an employment tussle, making it difficult to share details of the rupture, but the lack of any detail surrounding the slow collapse of the relationship between the coach, the players, and the administration, leaves huge holes in the narrative. The executive team should’ve done better. They’ve given themselves a black eye.   

What happens in a vacuum such this? People build their own story. They take loose ends and string them together, creating a macramé mess that ties the sport in knots.   

There are reckons everywhere. Outrage in some quarters, confusion in others. That the CEO Jenny Wylie was on leave and the chair Matt Whinery was left to face the music created more angst.   

The whole process was, and still is, being poorly managed.   

Netball NZ has taken a number of body blows over the past few months, is this the one that will floor the organisation, leaving them prone on the canvas?  

Only time will tell. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk SEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Wowser. Quite the week for a netball New Zealand Wolves
came crashing in on Wednesday when it was announced that
super coach Noline Todeer was stood down on the shadow
of an investigation essentially into the silver Fern's high performance
program and environment keyword there. The statement was about as

(00:34):
abrupt as it was unexpected. Netbl went into a tailspan
the whole sport from deep inside right the way through
to the exterior. It flailed about trying to make sense
of what had just happened, and we couldn't. There's a
mess clumsy at best, although negligent would probably be a
better description of the handling of the situation. I will

(00:56):
give them this. The load was well and truly sealed
on this chaos. Short of those deep in the interior
of the schism, no one knew, or at least no
one leaked anything. Then the can sprang open and the
snake popped out to everyone's shot. I understand that at
the heart of this issue is an employment tussle, making

(01:16):
it difficult to share details of the rupture, but The
lack of any details surrounding the slow collapse of the
relationship between the coach, the players and the administration leaves
huge holes in the narrative. The executive should have done better.
They've given themselves a black eye. What happens in a
vacuum such as this, People build their own story. They

(01:40):
take loose ends, they string them together, crowding mccrame a
mess that ties the sport knots. There are reckons everywhere,
Outrage in some quarters, confusion and others That the CEO,
Jenny Widey was on leave and the chair Matt Winnowey
was left to face the music created even more angst.
The whole process was and still as being poorly managed.

(02:04):
Nebul New Zealand has taken a number of body blows
over the past few months. Is this the one that
will flaw the organization leaving them prone on the canvas?
Only time will tell, and I'm not sure that what
they tell you will be great. That'll do.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
For more from the Your Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
listen live to News Talk set be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.