Tia Winikerei: Northern Mystics Head Coach on the uncertain future of the ANZ Premiership
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What recent challenges are affecting the ANZ Premiership?
Netball doesn't appear to be any better off despite all this administrative upheaval we've seen of late. The concern is over the lack of detail around the next season. The TV deal is of course expiring. They've all had 20% pay cuts. The angst is growing. Tia Winnikadai is the Northern Mystics head coach and is with us. Very good morning to you. Oh, good morning, Mike. Any reassurance that someone at head office is on this?
Look, to be fair, after the final the other night, I've burrowed down and I actually haven't heard much at all since last week. So I don't have any extra information.
How does Tia Winikerei feel about the current state of netball?
I'm not clear on what's going on.
What's the buzz on the bench? I mean, are the players worried? Are you worried? Is everyone worried?
Yeah, I said last week we were worried. I'm worried about not only the players. Like, obviously, the players took a pay cut coming into 26. And we... As staff, we've carried on in the way that we always have, even though I guess the competition's been reduced. But I'm concerned about the whole infrastructure, and there's a lot of good people in the staff component that work in netball, and nobody really knows what's happening.
How reliant are you, do you know, on the broadcasting deal? How critical is that as a piece of the puzzle?
Well the broadcast deal with TVNZ is not quite the same as Sky so the revenue that's created is different but there's other opportunities and being with TVNZ has been really good for the sport in terms of making it more accessible to the wider community. Obviously with TVNZ you need to require other sponsorships so it relies on that source of income to continue to keep the sport going at a Well, we're actually a semi-professional level, and we continue to need that investment if we're going to keep the ANZ Premiership or something at that level available in New Zealand.
I mean, it's one of those weird things, isn't it? I mean, as far as I know, the participation rate, kids still play netball, it's still a big, big, big sport, but something sort of happens higher up the old totem pole, doesn't it? It doesn't seem to excel to the same degree you might want it to.
Yeah, well, netball's the biggest participation sport for women and girls in New Zealand and has been for a very, very long time. As most people know, it's got a steeped history. We've been around for over 100 years. And it still provides a really good platform for women in sport. I guess the investment in women's sport isn't the same as men's sport. No. And that hasn't changed over time. So the question would be how do we... The product's great. Netball's great. Anyone that comes to Netball for the first time and watches it live keeps coming back. That's why the stadiums have been filled in the last couple of years.
What concerns do players and staff have about the future of netball?
There's been sell-out crowds across the country regularly throughout the regular season, and I think it's the dynamic nature of the sport. It's how do we sell that product regularly That excites people and wants them to, I guess, invest in us and see the potential in it. We've performed on the world stage for many, many years, and sometimes I scratch my head going, what is it that we need to change to get people to want to invest in us so we can continue into the future and provide the opportunities?
that the people before us have had. I think the scratching of the head is you're not alone in that and maybe the Commonwealth Games helps we get a gold out of that. Anyway, I wish you the best here, Winnie Karai, who is the Northern Mystics head coach. And hopefully, I'm assuming with a new chairman, last time we talked to the new head, the CEO of Netball, they had the chairman, they had the CEO, a couple more board members were being put in place. and maybe they turn it around. But having said that, I mean, TVNZ, with no disrespect to TVNZ at all, they're hardly rolling in dough at the moment, so I'm just not sure, and I don't know there's necessarily a massively competitive market for broadcasting money for a sport like netball.
Therefore, if you don't have that side of the equation sorted out, then things get a little bit tricky, don't they?
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