‘Bloody terrible’: Netball greats speak out against awarding World Cup medals to reserve players

“She said, ‘I feel like a bit of an impostor wearing this medal’, because she said she hadn’t really contributed to the on-court stuff,’’ recalls Browne, who expects her emotions would have been similar if faced with the same scenario.

“I would have been like, ‘God, I feel like I played a part in (winning) that medal but when it counted, I wasn’t in it’.

“But then you ask a Liz Watson, ‘Tell me, how was it for the girls that didn’t play?’, and she was like, ‘Honestly, Mads, we wouldn’t have got through this week without them. There were times leading up the tournament where I couldn’t train and they carried the extra load’.

“So the players who received it were like, ‘Aw, it feels a bit awkward’, where the players that were in the 12 were like, ‘Oh, my God, of course they should. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without them’.’’

The background: this year, for the first time, all 16 World Cup nations were permitted to include up to three emergencies who could remain for the duration and be called up as replacements during the tournament, should health or other reasons force a withdrawal from the official 12.

Yet while there was general support for the initiative, albeit along with some reservations that it further benefited the stronger teams with greater depth, it was only during the presentation ceremony that the full picture emerged.

All 15 in the extended squad were present on the dais and each received a medal, regardless of whether they had spent a minute on court or even appeared on a team sheet across the 10 days of competition.

A World Netball decision did not involve canvassing the competing nations, although Netball Australia had no issue with the concept, or therefore with Ruby Bakewell-Doran, Kate Moloney and Donnell Wallam being honoured in the same way as the dozen Diamonds in the actual team.

Silver medallists England and bronze recipients Jamaica also received 20 medals to distribute, including the 15 draped around athlete necks, with the remaining five awarded to coaches and support staff.

During a week in which the AFL debate over whether or not a player such as Collingwood vice-captain Taylor Adams deserved a premiership medallion after playing 23 games in 2023 but missing the grand final due to a devastatingly-timed hamstring injury, is it right to recognise a trio that did not set foot on a World Cup match court, but were merely there on standby and ultimately not required?

“I don’t think that they should, and I know that might be a hard thing to swallow,’’ triple world champion Nat Medhurst says.

“I know those players have played an enormous role in supporting the team and doing things, but it’s very different to them being a part of the team. If a player does participate or gets pulled in at any point, then that would be different.

“But if I was that reserve player, I feel like that would be quite an empty title and claim to have. I don’t think that would sit well with me; to be honest, I think I would go, ‘I actually haven’t earned this. I’m not actually a World Cup player’.

“For the players that are actually a part of a premiership team or, in netball’s case, a World Cup team, I think there should be something that’s pretty bloody special about doing that. It is something that I don’t think should be devalued.’’

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The most vehement critic of the new system is the venerable Norma Plummer, the former Australian world-title winning player and coach who has led South Africa at the past three World Cups.

“It just seems wrong that you can get a medal for not participating at all,’’ says Plummer, whose private polling of current and former players and coaches has convinced her that the vast majority agree, even if most prefer not to say so publicly.

Plummer cites the fact that if bench players selected in a Test 12 play no minutes in the match, it cannot count as a cap for their country. Specific to the Proteas, those who are yet to debut are unable to even wear the official team blazer; they are instead required to drape it over an arm.

Having received no medal for playing in Australia’s 1975 triumph in Auckland, Plummer argues that the reward for the reserves in Cape Town was the trip itself; the development and the experience. “The lolly was that they got the tour, they were recognised and they got to participate in all other aspects. But they didn’t actually play.’’

If it was Plummer in that position, how would she feel?

“Embarrassed,’’ she says. “I’d feel pretty shallow because I’d know I hadn’t really deserved it, I hadn’t earned it. I didn’t make the 12 and I didn’t take part. The 12 is the team, so you don’t have to be in the team now to get a medal. How things have changed. It’s bloody terrible. I’m annoyed and disappointed, to say the least.

“But I don’t blame the players, I blame the system. It’s a betrayal of the history and tradition of netball, which has always required players being recognised to actually play. It’s just so wrong.’’

Gaye Teede, another former Diamonds and AIS coach and national representative, is not as outraged as Plummer but concurs that World Netball has erred. She was surprised to see all 15 players standing on the dais on August 6.

“They weren’t part of the team. Full stop,’’ Teede says. “Somebody who was in that category and elevated to the team (such as Silver Fern Tiana Metuarua, who replaced the injured Grace Nweke during the pool games) and took part, different story.

“To me you have to have been in the team to get the cookies.’’

Indeed, the West Australian likens the situation to one in which every child who participates in junior sport gets a ribbon, or a trophy. “No, not for me,’’ she says. “I like the one, two, three.’’

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The first official world championships medals were awarded in 1991 but to players only, then in squads of 10. Coaches and staff were recognised four years later but the presentations were made quietly, and not on the dais, where they first set foot in 2011.

In a statement to CODE Sports, Netball Australia said it supported World Netball’s decision to extend the size of the 2023 World Cup player group from a team of 12 to a playing list of 12 and up to three reserves.

“The change recognised player welfare and workload and acknowledged the range of impacts on players during a competition including injury and illness,’’ NA said.

“Under the change, the three reserve athletes received full accreditation and attended key events including the opening ceremony and the candle lighting ceremony.

“World Netball also determined the playing list of 12 and up to three reserves, as well as the five team officials, would be awarded medals.’’

It will also be up to the international body to decide if that continues in 2027 in Sydney, but it is obviously a non-issue for host NA and the reality is that rarely are these decisions reversed.

Browne missed Sydney’s previous World Cup, won by the Diamonds in 2015, having torn her ACL earlier that year. So could a case now be made that she deserved a gold medal for her previous efforts, even if she was not part of the championship 12?

Clearly not, for that is an even longer bow. But, as part of an issue the AFL world is currently dissecting: where to draw the line?

For Browne, her immediate reaction on the ground in Cape Town was, “Ooh, that’s a really nice touch”, having been around the Diamonds during the event, noted up-close the contribution made by the trio-in-waiting on game and training days, and been aware of how hard their position of nearly-but-not-really would be.

“I got really moved when the girls stood up on the podium,’’ says the dual Liz Ellis Diamond winner and 61-Test veteran. “Because they were expected to be there the entire tournament, sit and watch every game, they were expected to train through the entire tournament even though they weren’t even playing, and at any moment they could have been called upon.

“But I don’t think they should get the same as the players that have given the blood, sweat and tears for that medal.’’

Medhurst, like Plummer, was not at all misty-eyed; which is no criticism of the individuals involved, but of a decision made by international officials that other senior Australian netball figures have admitted to CODE they believe is ill-judged.

“I would hate for someone to be calling me a world championship player (in those circumstances),’’ Medhurst says. “There is enormous privilege, pride and incredibly hard work that goes into making a World Cup — or Comm Games — team.

“Unfortunately this is the reality of sport, especially elite sport, that not everyone makes the cut. And I think calling someone a world champion who hasn’t actually been there doesn’t sit well for someone like myself, and possibly others, who have.’’