stasis

and the threat of stagnation

Stasis is an essay about organisational health, accountability and what constitutes progress.

In late February of 2023, it was reported “seven of the most powerful Australian sporting leagues [were] preparing to unite and campaign for the Indigenous Voice to parliament”.

The leagues were listed as the AFL, NRL, Rugby Australia, Netball Australia, Football Australia, Cricket Australia and Tennis Australia.¹

These codes, one month later on National Sorry Day, formed part of ‘more than twenty of the country’s biggest sporting organisations’ to come together in a ‘landmark move’ to support a Voice to Parliament.

In a joint letter, signed as from ‘the representatives of leading sport organisations in Australia’, they committed themselves to ‘improving education and understanding among the Australians who play, administer and watch our sports’.

They wrote:

‘Sport plays a significant role in reconciling Australia. It has long been a means for the inclusion and celebration of the incredible achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We commit to using our platforms to lead conversations that promote respect, trust and goodwill between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians. We, as a collective, support recognition through a voice.’

The National Basketball League was part of this collective.²

Jeremy Loeliger, the National Basketball League commissioner, was quoted as saying that following consultation with the playing group the league would be supporting the campaign to enshrine an Indigenous voice in the constitution. He said they ‘had no resistance whatsoever from any of [their] players.’³

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised the NBL’s ‘engagement’ and ‘advocacy’. He said there would be voters who spent ‘more time watching the NBL’ than watching him speak during question time so the league’s leadership would ‘carry a lot of weight around this nation.’

The NBL commissioner reflected this sentiment by stating:

‘I think politics and sport are almost unable to be distinguished from one another because of the fact that sport has such a massive public profile here in Australia.’ 

The entire list of participating sports were: Australian Football League, Australian Taekwondo, Badminton Australia, Baseball Australia, Boxing Australia, Cricket Australia, Deaf Sport Australia, Football Australia, Golf Australia, PGA of Australia, Motorsport Australia, National Basketball League, National Rugby League, Netball Australia, No Limit Boxing, Rugby Australia, Sport Inclusion Australia, Tennis Australia, NRL Touch Football Australia, Triathlon Australia and Wheelchair Rugby League Australia.⁴

The Women’s National Basketball League was not involved. 

---

There might have been reasons Basketball Australia did not include itself with the other major sporting bodies to be part of history.

This article does not seek to apportion blame. It does contend there should have been acknowledgement, when BA ultimately did release their own individual statement more than a month later⁵, of the delay — and an explanation as to why BA, but more crucially the WNBL, missed an opportunity to be part of what was described as a ‘powerful coalition that encompasses Australia’s most popular codes and a combined tally of around 10 million participants.’

BA proclaims to want the WNBL to be part of national relevance, and yet it seems to consistently exclude itself. Fans who care about the WNBL deserve more transparency. The league itself, especially the players⁶, deserve it, too.

I wrote in a myth of progress that the WNBL, and more specifically Basketball Australia’s ownership of the WNBL, prioritises stability. Stability does not necessarily connote safety — when there are threats as big as the AFLW, the recent commercialisation of the soccer, the continued success and marketing of women’s cricket, the volume of the netball, to refuse change sometimes means to greatly limit your ability to survive. Stagnation is not a sign of health. It can be fatal.

The impact of missing, or ignoring, opportunities to push the league out into mainstream awareness desperately needs acknowledgement, and then accountability. There is no singular individual at BA that should be expected to take the blame. These are accumulative deficiencies. They spread across many years. The act of narrowing, targeting and then sacrificing has been the customary method for assigning responsibility and it has only allowed the larger machine to operate unfettered. The machine itself — each cog, along with the cogs who choose the other cogs — needs holistic, historical, analysis.