Sports journalist and netball commentator Taroi Black says Tuesday’s announcement will lift a weight off players who have spent months wondering whether they would have a team or even a job in New Zealand next year. — Sports journalist and netball commentator Taroi Black says Tuesday’s announcement will lift a weight off players who have spent months wondering whether they would have a team or even a job in New Zealand next year.
“Tuatahi ake he tino karere nui tēnei mō ngā kaitākaro, e noho āwangawanga ana me kī, ki te huarahi i mua i a rātou mō te tau tītoki 2027. Nā te mea ko te pātai kē ia mehemea ka whai tūranga, ka whai mahi rānei ēnei kaitākaro.”
Netball NZ has signed a non-binding term sheet with entrepreneur Anna Mowbray and former All Black Ali Williams to work towards privatising the country’s netball elite domestic competition from 2027.
It brings some certainty after months of instability that has already driven 18 New Zealand players overseas, including 10 of the 12 Silver Ferns Commonwealth Games winners.
But while Tuesday’s announcement confirms there is a plan for professional netball in Aotearoa next year, much of what that competition will actually look like remains undecided.
Netball NZ Chief Executive Jennah Wootten says the decision is about far more than balancing the books.
“I want to be clear that we did make that decision with much more than just balancing the books in mind. What this step means is that we are bringing capital and commercial capability into the sport of netball.”
The agreement guarantees a minimum of five teams in 2027, but exactly which teams will take part and whether all six existing franchises survive in their current form remains unclear.
Wootten says five teams was a number agreed on with the Players’ Association and zones, and one Mowbray and Williams believed could be delivered within the tight timeframe.
NZ Netball Players Association (NZNPA) General Manager Pippa Moore says the ambition remains to have six teams.
“It’s just the minimum for next year because we know that we don’t have a whole heap of time.”
Under the proposed long-form agreement, investors would hold the licences for the competition and its teams, while Netball NZ would have a governance role on the new league’s board.
Black says that raises another question: how much influence Netball NZ will retain once the competition is privately run.
“Ko tana tino aronga mō te tau tūtoki kia riro i a ia te raihana hei waha i tēnei whakataetae ā-motu. Ko te pātai ia mehemea ka nui te mana o te reo o te Poitarawhiti o Aotearoa ki roto i ngā whakahaeretanga o tēnei whakataetae hou.”
For Northern Mystics captain Michaela Sokolich-Beatson, the announcement brought an emotional release.
“I am a strong advocate because I love this sport. I’m going to cry... It’s emotional because I love this sport. I’ve made my best friends in this sport, I’ve met some incredible people, and the fact that fellow little girls and boys across our country have a pathway to play in, like that’s really cool.”
After 11 years at the elite level, Sokolich-Beatson says her concern is less about her own career than ensuring the next generation has the same opportunity.
“If it was to end here, I’ve had a great career; it’s not actually about me... It’s about my friends that have little girls who play netball on a Tuesday night at Edith Hopper, like the small tiny little netball centre, and they love it.”
The announcement came on the same morning the Mystics confirmed assistant coach Rob Wright will leave to join Kiri Wills at the Queensland Firebirds next season, a departure Sokolich-Beatson described as “a massive loss”.
Black points to Australia as one possible blueprint, where major sporting organisations have backed netball teams, and questions whether a similar partnership could emerge in Aotearoa.
Mowbray says the new league will take inspiration from successful sporting competitions around the world, but many of the details remain unresolved.
Player salaries are still to be negotiated, with Moore saying discussions have begun, but the details will be worked through over the coming weeks.
There is also no confirmed competition format, team structure or season dates, while the long-form agreement itself is still being negotiated.
For now, the announcement offers relief rather than certainty.
And because the term sheet is non-binding, Black says there is still work to do before the future of New Zealand’s domestic game is truly secure.
But after watching Sokolich-Beatson become emotional while talking about a career that only weeks ago appeared at risk of disappearing beneath her, he says the announcement is nevertheless a significant step forward.
