A SUNRAYSIA Football Netball League club president has called for an end of the “Neanderthal opinion of women in sport” amid revelations of a massive pay disparity between top-level footballers and netballers in the region.
An investigation by Sunraysia Daily has found that while nearly $1 million will be pumped into senior footballers’ pockets across the nine SFNL clubs this season, the majority of A Grade netballers won’t receive a cent.
Even players from Wentworth, the most successful SFNL A Grade netball team of the modern era, are missing out on any payment.
Meanwhile, each club has a budget this season of about $100,000 for the senior footballers, with Robinvale Euston splashing out $1250 a game for their four marquee Queensland recruits.
Sources say that only two of the nine clubs – Red Cliffs and Mildura – pay their top-grade netball teams, but it is only a small fraction of what the footballers earn.
The Tigers’ netballers, who are winless this season, each collect $50 per game.
The club also pays their coach, Chantal Allford, but it is understood the Dees don’t pay their A Grade coach, Sharon Watson.
Tigers president Mick Smith said it was time for all clubs to address the big pay gap between footballers and netballers.
“I’m a massive advocate for women’s sport, not just netball,” said Smith, who has three daughters and three sisters.
“This malarkey that continues at some clubs with the knuckle-dragging, Neanderthal opinion of women in sport just needs to stop.
“It’s 100 per cent a local issue.
"It’s mind-blowing some of the opinions I hear from other clubs.
“It continues to astound me that people (women) who make up more than half of the club through participation and volunteers have to keep facing this big male bias.”
His comments come at a time when there is a national conversation about the value of women’s sport in Australia following the off-the-charts success of the Matildas at the women’s soccer World Cup.
The Matildas’ semi-final clash with England on Wednesday night drew a record average audience of 7.13 million viewers nationally on Seven and its streaming service 7plus.
That number does not include those who watched on Optus or in the many public venues around the country – including Mildura Sporting Precinct – that hosted mass viewing events.
It was the second time in a week that a women’s soccer match featuring the Australian national team became the highest-rating TV program of 2023.
But as the Matildas’ soccer team stole the hearts of the nation, over in South Africa, Australia’s Diamonds quietly won the Netball World Cup – and didn’t receive a cent for their efforts.
This is the same at most of the clubs in Sunraysia, a location where the popularity of netball is skyrocketing at all levels.
It has also arguably been the most entertaining local sport over the past year.
A prime example was last year’s A Grade grand final between Wentworth and Ouyen United at Mildura Sporting Precinct where about 1000 people crammed around the main indoor court to watch a game for the ages.
Pay divide creates ‘angst’
ONE of the most respected netball figures in Sunraysia, Sherrie Geister, gave a telling insight into how the great pay divide caused a subconscious rift between netballers and footballers at clubs.
The Irymple club great, who retired at the end of last season to focus on coaching the Swallows’ A Grade netball team, said her players didn’t get paid.
“There’s always that little bit of angst between netball and football,” Geister said.
“Every netballer has probably got that bit of a chip on her shoulder (about the pay issue) even if they think they don’t have.
“It’s a massive story.
"You can go on and on about it, but it’s been like this for a long time.
“But netballers don’t just play: we have to score games, do canteen duties, provide food on different occasions and go to functions, and we pay a membership to play.
“While the senior footballers are expected to do things, they at least get a monetary reward.”
Asked if she was getting paid for her coaching role, she said: “No, not at all.
“It is funny question, though, because I was born and bred into the club.
"Even if I was offered some money, as much as you say you want equal rights, I would probably decline so the money could go somewhere else.”
No coin for netball Invincibles
IF there was one A Grade netball team who deserved to be paid, it would be the all-conquering Wentworth Roos.
Unbeaten since the 2019 grand final, the Roos are the dominant force of the SFNL A Grade competition.
But Roos president Ricky Rowe said the players were not being paid for their groundbreaking efforts.
“No, none of the players get paid, but our coaches do get paid,” he said.
Rowe’s daughter, Lizzie, plays in the Roos’ A Grade side at goal attack or goal shooter.
Asked if she’s ever on his back about getting the netballers some coin, he said: “We joke about it, but none of my girls are saying ‘We all need to be paid now’.”
Sunraysia Daily then put it to Rowe that the onus should be on the clubs to show leadership and provide greater equality with the senior football team, who are expected to be paid close to $100,000 this season.
“That is correct, but it’s not a discussion that’s been held with me from the netballers or anyone at our football club,” Rowe said.
While he remained non-committal, the club’s senior football coach, Wade Hancock, went in to bat for the netballers.
“It’s a changing landscape and there definitely needs to be a more level playing field,” Hancock said.
“The older thinking I grew up with was that netball doesn’t bring people through the gate.
"But that is completely wrong.
“The A Graders are semi-professional, just as we are (in the senior football team).”
‘Bigger responsibilities’ for footy
ROBINVALE Euston Football Netball Club Phil Lamattina sees the football program as a bigger priority for his club.
“Our salary cap for football is $120,000 and generally speaking, that is what will be paid to the footballers this season,” he said.
As for how much the club’s A Grade netballers received?
“Zero. But the coach (Hayley Siddons) is paid some money,” Lamattina said.
“It’s not a huge amount of money, but it’s enough to cover her costs because she travels from Swan Hill (to Robinvale).
“I wouldn’t say she’d be out in front though.”
And how does it compare to what senior football coach Craig Davison is paid?
“He’s on more," Lamattina said.
"In my opinion though, he has bigger responsibilities.
“Not only is he looking after the senior team, which is consisting of 22 players, he’s got a list of roughly 30 and he’s responsible for our player development.
“The resources it takes to put a senior football team on the park are far greater than netball.
"It’s nearly a full-time job for Davo.
“But is it a fair ratio (with Siddons)?
"Probably not.”
The hard-working Siddons told Sunraysia Daily last weekend that she had rotated 35 players through the A and B grade teams in a “tough” season.
Netballers miss out at MSP
THE South Mildura A Grade netball team are on the verge of making the SFNL semi-finals.
By contrast, the senior football team have won only a single game this season as they appear set to narrowly escape the wooden spoon for a second straight year.
Yet it is the footballers who will collectively pocket about $100,000 in 2023, while the netballers receive zero.
South Mildura Sporting Club president Kevin Burke said he was unsure this week if the A Grade netballers were being paid or not, but coach Sally Moore said they weren’t.
While she declined to comment on her own situation, it is understood Moore turned down a pay offer so the money could be distributed to players being trained as umpires.
Moore did give a general comment about the massive pay imbalance between local footballers and netballers.
“Men can chase the coin more than women because of the money that’s attached to football,” she said.
“But with netball, because there’s no money attached, the blood, sweat and tears are what bring the club together each year.
"It’s why you get more loyalty in netball than football.”
'One in, all in' on pay
MILDURA are second on the A Grade netball ladder heading into the final round against the powerhouse Roos on Saturday.
This game was on the mind of coach Sharon Watson when she was contacted about the pay situation for the Dees’ netballers.
While Watson declined to comment, a club source said the A Grade players were being paid.
“I just know there’s a base rate for the players but that Sharon was not offered an individual contract,” the source said.
“There were initially a few players being paid but there was an insistence that it must be all the players.”
Asked if the pay disparity issue was a source of frustration for the club’s netballers, the source said: “The modern-day girl just wants it to be an equal path.”
