Netball: Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart rips up $15 million Australia Diamonds deal after sponsorship scandal

Australia are contesting the Constellation Cup against the Silver Ferns. Photo / photosport.nz

Netball Australia has had the rug pulled out from under it after mining magnate Gina Rinehart ripped up a A$15 million sponsorship deal on Saturday.

In a swirling fiasco, the situation has continued to deteriorate in recent days following revelations last weekend that Diamonds players had concerns about wearing a team uniform that included sponsorship branding from Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting company.

Australia kept their hopes of reclaiming the Constellation Cup alive with a dominant 62-47 win over New Zealand in game three in Melbourne on Wednesday night, but the action on the court has been overshadowed by Netball Australia's new sponsorship with Hancock.

The issue came to a head because Indigenous player Donnell Wallam, who is in line to make her Diamonds debut in the upcoming series against England, was said to be uncomfortable wearing a uniform with the Hancock Prospecting logo, because of comments made by Rinehart's father Lang Hancock in the 1980s.

Hancock infamously suggested in 1984 that Indigenous Australians should be sterilised to "breed themselves out" in the coming years.

Players were also reported to be supportive of Wallam and the push-back against the Diamonds' major sponsor.

The Diamonds are yet to wear a uniform with the Hancock logo on it — and it now appears that they never will.

The $15 million commercial agreement was a lifeline for the governing body, which has lost more than $7 million over the past two years, mostly due to costs associated with Super Netball.

Netball Australia recently turned down a bid from a private equity company that offered a multi-million deal. Netball Australia instead signed its deal with Hancock.

Australia are contesting the Constellation Cup against the Silver Ferns. Photo / photosport.nz

In a statement issued on Saturday, Hancock Prospecting confirmed it had pulled its sponsorship of the sport, and its subsequent ties to Netball WA and the West Coast Fever.

The company will still provide "short-term funding" for four months as Netball Australia searches for an "alternative sponsor".

"Hancock and Roy Hill were not made aware prior to the proposed partnerships, of the complexity of existing issues between Netball Australia and the Players Association. This includes the Players Association's endeavours to gain a very substantial increase in wages during a time the sport is reeling financially, and unable to provide such an increase," the statement read.

"Hancock, and similarly Roy Hill, embarked on these proposed partnerships in good faith and on the basis of representations and its resulting understanding that Netball Australia and the sport's key stakeholder groups including the Australian Diamonds, were united in their support of one of West Australia's pre-eminent mining companies becoming their principal sponsor."

The company claimed it had been "advised that the netballers had no concerns wearing the name on the team dress" for the Constellation Cup series.

"Hancock and Roy Hill do not wish to add to netball's disunity problems, and accordingly Hancock has advised Netball Australia that it has withdrawn from its proposed partnership effectively immediately," they said.

Netball Australia has been criticised for a lack of consultation with players about the deal with Hancock and there is frustration Wallam has been unfairly burdened by the situation.

The governing body also rejected reports players had protested the sponsorship branding, but new chair Wendy Archer admitted the sport was working to fix a divide between its major commercial partner and the Diamonds dressing room.

A statement from the governing body on Tuesday admitted it did not divulge aspects of its partnership with Hancock Prospecting following reports no player or the Players Association were consulted about the sponsorship.

The Diamonds return to the court to face the Silver Ferns on Sunday on the Gold Coast before their series against England begins on Wednesday.