A captain’s challenge isn’t the answer to growing umpiring frustration in Super Netball, one of the sport’s most experienced whistleblowers says.
Michelle Phippard, who has umpired more than 100 internationals including multiple Commonwealth Games and World Cups, said many calls were “interpretative” and too “tricky” to manage from a bunker-like set-up.
After the early season centre pass controversy – which saw the Collingwood Magpies denied victory over the Melbourne Vixens who were awarded consecutive centre passes, the drama has continued with some clubs denied super shots and others feeling aggrieved by 50-50 calls.
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In last week’s Vixens’ win over the West Coast Fever, Fox Netball commentator Stacey Francis-Bayman was left in disbelief by a couple of calls that went against her former side in the narrow one-goal loss.
Francis-Bayman felt Fever players Sasha Glasgow and Jess Anstiss were contacted by their opponents before the umpire determined turnovers late in the thrilling match.
In Glasgow’s case, she appeared to have the ball knocked from her hands by opponent Jo Weston before coughing up possession over the sideline, while Anstiss was deemed to have stepped when Kiera Austin put on a physical challenge for the ball.
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“I feel like as a player, I would be frustrated with the way the game is being called,” Francis-Bayman said on Fox Netball.
“I am really, really struggling to kind of have a really neutral take on this.
“There was a clear hand in by Kiera Austin for me (on the Anstiss stepping call). Whether it did or didn’t cause Jess to step, we don’t know.
“But the rules of the game are the rules of the game.”
Francis Bayman even described the game as like “jeopardy” – “it draws the emotions out”, she explained.
Appearing on Centre Circle, Phippard said it needed to be remembered umpires were only part-time and trying to juggle full-time work, families and other demands – while trying to keep up with the professional level of Super Netball.
“It’s a huge ask. I take my hat off to everybody who does the job,” she said.
“Obviously there’s always more that can be done.
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“You’re always going to have a degree of player reaction on court … sometimes the whistle goes and the players are frustrated at themselves, at their opponent or they are frustrated at the call – they think they were first to the ball, they didn’t think they infringed.
“There’s always going to be some degree of passion.
“The part where it crosses the line is where it’s directed at the umpire and it’s aggressive or abusive.
“One of our skills is knowing the difference.
“We all need to be mindful of what happens on big screens in stadium spills out onto the grass courts/bitumen courts.”
Phippard said the stepping call on Anstiss, where Austin was deemed to have contested fairly, was a “difficult” one.
“What the rule asks us to look at is interference – and in judging that interference, the umpire is looking for cues – the body position of the player, some sort of interference that makes the contest unfair,” she explained.
“What may have been allowed needs to remain consistent.
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“It’s difficult … Sometimes it can be a very subtle movement.
“Other times a contest can be a contest because a player can play through it.”
Fox Netball’s Kim Green said she believed a “technical challenge” could help alleviate some of the controversy that seems to be building in 2023.
“I think it will certainly slow down the game but I think there needs to be a technical challenge – centre passes, completely out, the two-point super shot. They need to come in because that is completely changing the results of games,” she warned.
But Phippard said she didn’t believe that was the answer.
“There’s been a lot of talk this season about ways we can help umpires … there are some sports where I think (the challenge system) adds to the drama, but I’m not sure whether that would be the case in netball,” she explained.
“The cost of setting up a bunker and what things it would entail.
“Things that are interpretative, like a contact, that might be tricky.
“There’s a lot of teasing out to be done before we go there.”
