‘Punishing players for becoming mums’: Aiken-George’s contract tension simmers

A “furious” Medhurst, whose own 17-year national league career ended at her fourth club, Collingwood, after the birth of her first child in 2020, said motherhood was being treated as a “liability” by some clubs.

She called on Netball Australia to follow the lead of Cricket Australia and its players’ association, whose landmark 2019 Players’ Parental Leave Policy includes the provision for “guaranteed contract extensions, where the player is on parental leave at the next contracting date’’.

Aiken-George signed on for a 15th season with the Firebirds last September but, by abandoning plans to play the opening few games of 2022 and reach the 200-game milestone, allowed mature-aged rookie shooter Donnell Wallam to start in round one.

The champion Jamaican and husband Daniel George – a father of three – are expecting their first child together in the next month, but the 33-year-old posted on social media on Monday that she had been told by the Firebirds that her post-partum return to the court next year was “too risky”.

The Firebirds released a statement on Monday afternoon saying it was “aware of commentary” surrounding Aiken-George and her media post.

It confirmed that the club’s 2023 playing roster was incomplete, with three more contracted players plus training partners still to be named, and a new head coach to replace Megan Anderson — who resigned last month — to be named shortly.

“This senior playing list is determined over months of scrutiny by our List Management Committee made up of the CEO, COO, GM of High Performance, Head Coach, coaching staff and Head of Elite Development,’’ the statement said.

“Gretel Bueta, Donnell Wallam and Mia Stower (two Australian Diamonds players and one consistent long-range shooter) developed a strong and proven combination during the 2022 Suncorp Super Netball season.’’

The statement added that Aiken-George was one of several Firebirds honoured for their service at the annual awards night on Saturday, “and spoke of her love for the club and its people and indicated that her playing future was yet to be determined’’.

Then, in the early evening, a second statement landed from Netball Queensland, which read: “In the face of some still implying that the Firebirds club makes list management decisions based on anything other than high-performance related factors, the club unequivocally denies that Romelda Aiken-George was not offered a contract in the ten because she is pregnant.

“The Firebirds have developed a strong club culture over many seasons that embraces and supports life decisions of players, and suggestions that the club operates otherwise is not fair on the current and former playing group and management.’’

Past champions such as Medhurst and former Diamonds vice-captain Kim Green had earlier condemned the decision, although Green qualified her criticism by saying on Twitter “if this is the full story… it is not good enough from @FirebirdsQld.

“Romelda has made that club what it is today and has almost single-handedly won premierships for that club. What a way to support a loyal player, who was 1000% poached by EVERY club in the world!’’

Medhurst was scathing of the treatment of the triple premiership player, her teammate from 2010-13.

“Again, I’m furious, absolutely furious,’’ said the triple world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

“And sadly, it doesn’t surprise me, either, and I’m sick of saying that, but some of the things our sport does to its female athletes just continually keep happening, and they’re not right, but it’s sort of become, ‘No surprises. Here we go again’.

“Netball just needs to do a lot more. Netball Australia keeps on trying to say that we’re the premier female sport, yet we don’t actually properly support our female athletes, because one of the things of being a female is that a lot of us have babies, but you become a liability most of the time by doing it.

“To think that then ends your career, at what should be one of the happiest and most exciting times of your life … You would assume it might be pretty hard for Romelda to now get a contract anywhere, and for me it just doesn’t seem right.

“I would have thought that any club would have been pretty happy to have a Romelda, even as a 10th player on their line-up.’’

Asked whether the alleged health grounds were simply an excuse to dump Aiken for younger players, with all SSN athletes out of contract at the end of 2023, Medhurst said: “Potentially. I guess my question is around, ‘Well, what conversations have they had with Romelda? What was their thought process?’. Because I think she would happily have taken a minimum wage contract just to have the opportunity to play again after having a child.

“This is where you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t. ‘Well, you waited too long to become a mum, but now you’re too old for us to recontract [you]’.

“But if you have a child too young … your spot might get taken by someone else coming through, so this is just where the whole sport is almost punishing players for becoming mums.

“I know clubs have asked players whether or not they wanted to have children, as to whether they would offer them a contract. It infuriates me.’’

A former president of ANPA, mum-of-two Medhurst called for an update of the sport’s pregnancy policy to provide greater contractual assurance for new mothers.

“I think it needs to be a lot clearer, because some players are supported, some aren’t, some clubs go above and beyond what is the pregnancy policy, some don’t. So it needs to be very, very clear cut around what it is that’s in place: the support that’s given to players during their pregnancy as well as coming back.’’

“And players need to speak out who have experienced things, because that is the only way that they are going to be able to really enforce change and understand what is going on, then [netball should] build something around the players’ needs.’’

The Firebirds’ 2022 line-up contained a league-high three mothers: Bueta, Kim Ravaillion and the now departed England Roses defender Eboni Usoro-Brown, with Medhurst saying the two Australians, plus Giants defender April Brandley and Pies midcourter Ash Brazill, had all played some career-best netball since becoming parents.

“I know Rav went through challenges coming back, I know Apey went through challenges,’’ says Medhurst, who chronicled for CodeSports her own disappointment about her treatment at the Magpies.

“Even through the mental things you deal with becoming a mum, your body changes, your hormones, you’re meant to be excited about becoming a mum, and yet this massive part of you is made to feel like shit because you’ve become one. It’s the most horrible feeling.’’

Aiken-George did not respond to a request for comment on Monday but told CodeSports back in March that “the aim is to have this baby and then come back and see how we go. I want to finish on my terms”.

Australian Netball Players’ Association CEO Kathryn Harby-Williams could not be contacted.