Netball change that would make legend 'proud'

Australian netball legend Liz Ellis says she'd be "really proud" to see Netball Australia adopt a policy whereby its board must have an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander member.

But the most-capped Diamond in history says the governing body must avoid being "tokenistic" and rather "invest in people".

Ellis was the chair of a panel, which also included Joe Pollard, Kate Jenkins and Wendy Machin, that this year undertook the most comprehensive review of Australian netball ever conducted.

Including a position for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander on the Netball Australia board was one of a host of recommendations presented to the organisation, with more flexibility at grassroots levels and greater inclusiveness of males among the rest.

"I would be really proud (to see an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander added to the board)," Ellis told Wide World of Sports.

"As chair of the panel I am actually really proud of this movement in its entirety. It's an opportunity to repair relationships that have been damaged over the last few years and make sure we go forward in a strong and unified manner.

"That means you embrace diversity and the first port of call for that needs to be embracing our first-nations people. If that comes to fruition I'd be really proud of the sport for making that change.

"But it's super-important that you don't just have tokenistic appointments, whether it's playing appointments, coaching, umpiring or administration. You've got to bring people through the system and invest in people."

The lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander presence in Australian netball was thrust into the spotlight when Jemma Mi Mi, the only woman in the Super Netball competition, didn't play a single minute of Indigenous Round in September.

Debate raged about whether the Queensland Firebirds centre should have featured in the round because of her heritage, or whether, even in Indigenous Round, the coach should have complete autonomy over selection.

Ellis stressed the need for sport to generate social change.

"It's super-important," she said.

"The fact that sport has generally been a terrific leader in a lot of social change in this country shows the power it has. When sport has tried to make change it's tended to be successful in terms of driving social change."

Ellis applauded the Wallabies' first-nations rendition of the national anthem ahead of their Tri-Nations clash with Argentina last Saturday night, which saw Dave Rennie's men recite Advance Australia Fair in the Eora language.

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The former Australian captain said it reminded her of visits to New Zealand and South Africa on which anthems would be sung in a variety of different languages before Test matches.

The three-time World Cup winner said it'd be terrific to see Netball Australia follow the same path.

"I would love to see the national anthem sung in an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language, but I also think we need to make sure as a sport that we're not just having these gestures of Indigenous Round and having the anthem done in that way," Ellis said.

"You've actually got to enact meaningful change at all levels of the sport. So if it was part of a greater suite of measures I would be rapt and would absolutely welcome it.

"It's so moving and it's lovely to see the players sing the anthem in a number of different languages. I'd love to see Australian netball adopt a very similar thing."

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