TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF GLARING NETBALL SNUB

On November 27, 2013 the Guardian newspaper in England published a list of who they believed to be the world’s 10 best netball players. Before they did so, they assembled an august panel of judges that included former players, coaches and journalists who would have seen the sport played at its highest level.

They included Sue Gaudion, Netball TV commentator and former West Coast Fever coach; Marg Foster coach of Loughborough Lightning and a former Silver Fern; Ama Agbeze English national and Central Pulse defender; Colyn Gordon, English men’s netballer; Selina Hornibrook, host of SBS TV’s netball coverage and former Australian Diamond midcourter; Karen Atkinson, coach of the Hertfordshire Mavericks and current assistant coach of England; Rikki Swannell, netball TV commentator for Sky Sports NZ; Dana Johannsen netball writer for the New Zealand Herald and Harriet Millard, editor of Planet Netball; and Luke Williams for Guardian Australia and NetballScoop.com

Together they perused performances of players over the past two years including those in the 2011 World Cup, where the Sunshine Girls finished a disappointing fourth but in the top four nonetheless. But, according to this experienced panel of judges, the fifth best player in the world over the past two years was Jamaica’s own Jhaniele Fowler.

Their assessment: “It’s next to impossible to convincingly beat a team with Fowler on it. The only Jamaican player on the list, the 198cm goal shooter “dominated the 2013 ANZ Championships. Has an obvious height advantage over her opponents, but has strong hands and great elevation,” according to Selina Hornibrook.

Colyn Gordon added Fowler “put herself in the shop window with strong performances against all defensive styles. Very difficult to mark as she has a large well-built frame, can elevate with great Velcro-like hands.”

That is perhaps why the towering Jamaican broke scoring records in her rookie season and was voted MVP and Best Newcomer.

But for all her accomplishments, Fowler and Thristina Harwood, the MVP of the Fast Five Series recently concluded in Auckland, New Zealand where Jamaica finished third; and Romelda Aitken, who played in the finals of the ANZ Championships, the highest quality netball league in the world, and second highest scorer for the season, were snubbed at their own country’s Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards. The nominees were made public last Thursday, December 12.

Marva Bernard, president of Netball Jamaica said she was told that Fowler did not qualify for the Sportswoman of the Year Award. However, under the criteria set out she should have. The Awards recognize excellence of Jamaican athletes by selection those performances the selection committee deems worthy. Mike Fennell Chairman of the committee explained at the ceremony where the nominees were announced that it was difficult to quantify the performances of netball players, a sentiment echoed by Gary Allen, chairman of the board of the RJR Sports Foundation.  They say other players contribute to the success of the team and consequently to a goal shooter like Fowler.

It’s a weak argument at best. Here’s why. If that was truly the case, how then does Stafanie Taylor qualify? Taylor can score hundreds and take wickets that has seen her ranked as the best One Day bowler and batter in the world, but she had to have a partner at the other end of the wicket to ensure that she could make those runs, and in most instances she would have to have relied on teammates to take catches that ensured that she got those wickets. What’s the difference then between her performances and Fowler’s?

By that argument put forward by Fennell and others on the committee, no team player should ever qualify for the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year award then and only athletes from individual sports would be considered. Also by their reasoning, Michael Jordan would never be considered the greatest ever basketball player or Dan Marino one of the greatest ever quarterbacks.

Another argument being put forward is that the ANZ Championship is not a global championship hence, as I was told, that was why someone like Chris Gayle, who scored that amazing 175 in the Indian Premier League, was not considered. Again, rubbish.

“The nominee must be a Jamaican national or have represented Jamaica at an internationally recognized sporting competition…” The nominee must have  had “distinguished achievement or honours earned at the Commonwealth or Pan American level in their sport during the review period.”  Those are not my words but words from the criteria set out for potential nominees.

How then did Fowler or another of the other two ladies not qualify for any category?  Just think about this; does Transworld Sport fly all the way to Jamaica to do a feature on average athletes? Not the last time I checked. But they flew here to Jamaica to do a 10-minute feature on the Jamaican who dominated the ANZ in her rookie season. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JWtEEOLY08

Nobody is saying here that Fowler would have won the title for 2013. In reality, the trophy that will be presented on January 10, 2014, to the sportswoman of year for 2013, already has Shelly-Ann Frazer Pryce’s name engraved on it, but to totally discount the performances of the netballers is just downright disrespectful. I mean, to suggest that none of the three players could even make the list of nominees for the People’s Choice category is absolutely ludicrous. This is even more so when one considers that Molly Rhone, the president of the IFNA, netball’s world governing body sits on the foundation’s board. Why is she even there then, if her sport and the players she represents cannot even be considered for their outstanding achievements? Was she a token appointee?

Allen told me on my talk last week Thursday night, hours after the nominations were announced that there perhaps need to be a rethink about how nominees are selected, so perhaps there is some hope that things will change in the future. But in the meantime it has become increasingly embarrassing to have some of the world’s best athletes continuously being overlooked because of what can only be seen as  a sickening gender bias, or bias against a sport that has brought Jamaica so much respect for such a long period of time.