Even if you don't follow sport as actively or passionately as I do, I'm sure you've been caught up to some degree in the Matildas and their quest to win the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Whilst the Matildas will didn't get the result they were after – though they achieved their best result at a World Cup, their legacy from this competition will be far greater than their ranking including how they....
• changed the sport of soccer in Australia forever
• united a country
• inspired and paved a way for young girls to become a professional soccer player
And I don't deny the Matildas any of their success or support – it's absolutely well deserved.
It's just frustrates and disappoints me that the netball governing bodies, through their own mistakes and unwillingness to move with the times, have by default, made netball irrelevant in the world of women's sport.
And this has been a slow burn which is what happens when you have a monopoly on the marketplace for so long, and believe that no matter what other sports do, your sport (netball) will always remain the first choice for young girls and women to play.
Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.
This can also happen with many small businesses so let me share the mistakes made by the netball governing bodies over the years which had meant the sport to lose its relevancy and unfortunately resulted in our Aussie Netball Diamonds unbelievable World Cup win being barely recognised; and the insights for your small business.
7 mistakes made by the netball governing bodies to lose relevance, and what this can mean for your small business
MISTAKE 1 Hold the Netball World Cup at the same time as the FIFA Women's World Cup
How this actually happened astounds me!
When both netball and soccer have the same target market ie young girls and women, why on earth would you schedule both World Cups at the same time?
Especially as the FIFA World Cup was being hosted by Australia and New Zealand – 2 of the biggest powerhouses in world netball.
Then add the time difference between the soccer in Australia and the netball in South Africa.
Result: Everyone watched the Matildas in primetime and at live venue sites all around the country, compared to netball whose semi-final and gold medal match was on at midnight and 2am respectively.
MISTAKE 2 Only the semi and grand finals were shown on free to air
Whilst netball got its own dedicated channel on Foxtel and Kayo (which was great for me), only the finals were shown on free to air on SBS Viceland.
Considering SBS is the international and multicultural broadcaster, it surprised me they didn't show every game.
Compare that to the Matildas and the other teams who were shown on Channel 7.
MISTAKE 3 Poor social media and websites
Do you know there is still not a photo of the Diamonds with their medals and holding up the World Cup as a banner on the Netball Australia website?
I scrolled through the news section and after 6 articles, I gave up. There's not even a banner on the Origin Diamonds website nor in the photos of the World Cup articles.
The World Netball website isn't much better – they don't even have the updated news or photos of the World Champions.
There was also very little social media posts which told you the times of the games in your timezone, and the World Cup netball FB page wasn't much better.
And you've no idea how difficult it was to find out what the other games were – it was assumed as customers and supporters, we only wanted to know about the Diamonds and not the whole tournament.
BTW- No World Cup netball app either.
MISTAKE 4 Poor media coverage
I've just returned from a 4 day business workshop and some much needed R and R so I spent the weekend catching up on some TV.
As I watched the FoxSports show The Back Page, I then realised netball had lost its relevance.
This show was the day after the Diamonds won the World Cup in the wee hours of Monday morning, and it went like this.
The Matildas win over Denmark was the first headline followed the Diamonds winning the World Cup. There was no Fox Netball panellist to discuss the game, and the first 16.5 minutes were all about the Matildas followed by less than 3 minutes talking about the Diamonds World Cup win.
WOW - talk about a lightbulb moment!
MISTAKE 5 Provide no prize money for a professional sport
Yes you've read that right – the Diamonds received no prize money for winning the World Cup – just the title and the trophy.
And the Diamonds players received no bonuses from Netball Australia for this achievement.
In comparison, here's the breakdown for the FIFA governing bodies:
1st $6.6 million
2nd $4.6 million
3rd $4 million
4th $3.8 million
There are also team payments, and on top of this, the Matildas also receive individual payments from $47000 for being part of the group stage, which increased to $140 000 by making the quarter finals; and now they'll get $258000 for coming fourth.
So why would you choose to be a netballer as your career path?
If you call yourselves a professional sport, then please start acting like one.
MISTAKE 6 Underestimate your competition
Netball has always been the most participated female sport in Australia for my whole life.
Yet anyone could see that over the last 10 years, this was changing as the options for professional women's sport opened up with cricket, soccer, AFL, rugby league, rugby union and rugby sevens.
But instead of recognising what was coming, the netball powerbrokers remained rigid and maintained very much a 'we'll be right' or blinkers on attitude.
A great example of how netball lost relevance was when Cadbury launched their Cheer and a Half campaign to recognise great sporting individuals and teams for the values what they bring to their sporting community beyond their talent.
The 'Team Spirit' block went to the Matildas and the 'Purpose' block went to the Wallabies. Now considering how poorly the Wallabies are going, I would've thought our Diamonds would have been a better example.
I also think it's ironic Netball Australia have posted their welcoming of the increased to Federal funding into women's sport – like they had something to do with that. I hope they realise netball will be getting a very small chunk of that pie because we all know where it's really going!
MISTAKE 7 Impose old fashioned rules, views and ideals when the world has changed
Instead of listening to what grassroots clubs and communities was telling the netball governing bodies about why players were leaving the sport especially teenagers, they remained rigid with rules and attitudes which made people leave rather than keep playing the sport they loved.
These rules and attitudes included
• rigid uniform penalties which created negative body issues rather than allowing players to wear something which they felt good in and enabled them to play at their best
• forcing players to play in torrential rain because it was a 'wet weather' court
• representative selectors only choosing tall players to shoot, regardless of their ability and dismissing shorter players even if they were quick and versatile
• not recognising the difference between social and competitive netball
• only listening to representative coaches rather than the true grassroots coach who also had valuable advice and ideas
• no consultation with Suncorp Super Netball players and clubs (aka customers) about the introduction of the super shot and the selling off of the grand final venue.
And I could go on. On top of this, add these facts of recognition for the Matildas over the Diamonds:
• Days before the finals, our Prime Minister was pushing for a public holiday if the Matildas just made the gold medal match - they didn't even have to win it!
• Queensland Premier provided a Fan Day after the bronze medal match so supporters could get up close and personal with the Matildas which was packed
• Booktopia sent me an email with a sale on books about the Matildas including the Matilda effect – never receive such an email about a sale on netball books.
• And yesterday I saw my local Poolwerx had a sign: 20% off chlorine thanks Matildas.
So what does this all mean for your small business?
Plenty!
Hopefully you can see that resting on your laurels, not listening to what your customers really want, and remaining rigid to your ways and thinking doesn't always mean a financially sustainable and viable business.
In fact, it's probably the quickest way to shut down your business.
Oh and most importantly, know what your competitors are doing to see what needs to change in your small business so you can stay ahead of them, or even consider collaborating rather than competing when you know you'll lose.
If only World Netball had done that and held the World Cup in September – imagine the difference the media coverage would have been, let alone the support which could have been fostered around the country?
