Australian sporting great Anthony Mundine has come out in support of Donnell Wallam and the Netball Australia players in the wake of the sponsorship crisis.
Gina Rinehart pulled her $15 million sponsorship of the Aussie national team after players took issue with wearing a uniform that banded her company Hancock Prospecting’s logo.
The players took issue with the company’s association with fossil fuels, but more prominently took umbrage with offensive comments made by Rinehart’s father Lang Hancock about First Nations people back in 1984.
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Hancock had infamously suggested that Indigenous Australians should be sterilised to ‘breed themselves out’.
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Indigenous player Donnell Wallam, who is set to make her Diamonds debut in the series against England, was said to be uncomfortable with sporting such a logo.
The Netball Australia players got behind their teammate, and as a result, Rinehart decided to pull her deal.
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Now, Mundine has come to Wallam’s defence and also slammed Rinehart for pulling out rather than distancing herself from her late father’s comments.
He told the Herald Sun: “Anyone that thinks like him, speaks like him, believes what he believes, is detrimental to humankind.
“Donnell should stay strong and stay staunch in her beliefs.
“She (Gina Rinehart) could have apologised for her father’s comments, distanced herself from them and told us that she doesn’t believe those things. Instead, she pulled her money out.”
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Mundine then urged Netball Australia to stick by Wallam’s side.
He continued: “All the netballers, they need to be staunch and stick behind Donnell, because they’re going to try to turn them against her.
“I just hope that Donnell knows that there are a lot more people behind her than what she may think. She has taken a strong stand, an important stand, and that shows the courage of her convictions.”
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Anthony Mundine has been a stout supporter of Indigenous people’s rights and often spoke against the racism experienced.
He was named the Indigenous Male Sportsperson of the Year in 2003, 2006, and 2007, whilst the Anthony Mundine Award for Courage was created as part of the National Indigenous Human Rights Awards in 2014.
In the wake of reports of player protest against Hancock Prospecting, Rinehart launched a scathing attack against the organisation and its players.
"Hancock and its executive chairman Mrs Rinehart consider that it is unnecessary for sports organisations to be used as the vehicle for social or political causes," Hancock Prospecting said in a statement.
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The statement added: "Secondly, because there are more targeted and genuine ways to progress social or political causes without virtue signalling or for self-publicity."
They said they did not want 'to add to netball's disunity problems' as it pulled the multi-million dollar funding deal.
Featured Image Credit: Richard Milnes / Alamy. Action Plus Sports Images / Alamy.