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A former Netball Australia board member says she is happy to detail her experiences of racism in the organisation if NA is truly committed to learning and changing.
- Nareen Young said she witnessed racism as a junior and on the NA board
- NA said it "welcome[d] the opportunity to further understand these allegations"
- Two days after her comments, Young said she was yet to hear from the organisation
It comes as NA recommitted to its $15 million sponsorship deal with Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting, despite issues raised around the company's record on Indigenous issues, chiefly racist comments made by founder and Rinehart's father, Lang Hancock.
Nareen Young, who served on Netball Australia's board in 2018, told The Drum on Tuesday night she had witnessed racism from her time playing the sport at junior levels to sitting on the board.
"I've been around netball a lot," she said.
"My observation and experience over many years is there's quite a lot of racism in netball at every level, including the board. Certainly I experienced some racism there."
Professor Young, who leads the Indigenous People and Work Research and Practice Hub at UTS's Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, said she spoke to prominent black players in the sport who told her they had experienced racism in the sport.
After her comments on Tuesday, NA provided a statement to News Corp, saying it "was not aware of these allegations but takes any claim of racism extremely seriously".
"Netball Australia made a public commitment to listen, learn and change by engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and hearing about their experiences within netball," the statement read.
"This incredibly important work continues and we welcome the opportunity to further understand these allegations."
On Thursday morning, Professor Young said she was not difficult to get in touch with if NA was "sincere" in its comments.
On The Drum, Professor Young acknowledged NA had been trying to address issues with diversity and inclusion for years but said "it comes from very much a non-Indigenous perspective" despite Indigenous people's huge presence in the sport, particularly at a community level.
She said racism in the sport had become somewhat "normalised because none of the analysis of it comes from an Indigenous standpoint or a diverse standpoint".
"One of my first meetings they were talking about One Netball, which was their diversity program, and how proud they were of it. And that was the other thing over here for diverse people," she said.
"Then there was then a promotional video made and released about netball and it was just all these blonde people.
"I don't think there's even a recognition that it manifests in every single thing that's done.
"I had some things said to me by other board members that would knock your socks off … after a board meeting.
"I'm hoping there's some improvement but I think there needs to be some work done from an Indigenous and diverse standpoint."