Embattled Netball Australia CEO steps down

KELLY Ryan, the CEO of Netball Australia who led the code during its biggest pay dispute in history, has resigned last week.

Netball Australia and Super Netball players reached an in principle agreement in the last fortnight that is still yet to be formally agreed upon.

But it came after players went unpaid for more than two months as contracts expired before a new collective bargaining agreement was struck.

Ryan said in a statement that the time was right to move on.

“Having reached an in principle agreement on the CPA pay deal, and watched with pride as our Diamonds won the Commonwealth Games and the Netball World Cup, the timing felt right to hand over the reins to a new leader,” she said.

“During my time as CEO I have delivered on the objectives of the board.

“We overcame the challenges of coronavirus pandemic to continue a national competition through border closures, experienced strong growth in the national competition, grew netball’s already strong participation numbers, and strengthened the games’ finances.

“Netball Australia has a wonderful team of people who work tirelessly for the benefit of the sport, and I thank them for their continued efforts and for their support.”

Players were pushing for a revenue share model, the primary hold up in pay negotiations, Netball Australia had been blamed for the dispute.

Netball Australia’s executive GM of performance Stacey West will take over as chief executive on an interim basis.

– SEB MOTTRAM/ SEN