Netball: Latu devastated by Silver Fern ruling

Cathrine Latu. Photo / Getty Images

A heartbroken Cathrine Latu didn't want to speak to Ruth Aiken this morning as she had an inkling the Silver Ferns coach was about to deliver the news which has shattered the goal shoot's world netball championship dream.

Aitken was charged with telling the 24-year-old the bad news - that Netball New Zealand (NNZ) had lost its bid to include Latu, the Mystics goal shoot, in the New Zealand squad for July's world championship in Singapore because of a technicality.

"It's a bit fresh so I'm still quite devastated," Latu told NZPA today.

"When I got the call this morning and Ruth said `are you free to talk?', I kind of knew something was up so I said `no'. I just didn't want to know. I'm back to square one and I'll just have to wait it out now."

Auckland-born Latu, 24, represented Samoa until the 2007 world championship but then announced she would serve the required four-year stand-down period before committing to New Zealand.

But NNZ believed a precedent had been set when former New Zealand defender Vilimaina Davu, who had won a 2003 world championship gold medal for the Silver Ferns, retired, started coaching Fiji, then sought a dispensation to play for them at the 2007 championship. It was granted by world governing body Ifna on the basis she was a player returning to her country of birth.

NNZ included Latu in the world championship squad earlier this month, but must now withdraw her after its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to overturn the ruling by Ifna was thrown out because of a technicality.

The CAS ruling suggested NNZ should have applied to it after Ifna first indicated it would turn down the bid to include Latu in October 2009. Ifna finally declined the application in December last year.

NNZ believed the time frames for the CAS appeal were met, but the CAS decided otherwise and that was their final avenue for appeal.

"I know Netball New Zealand did everything they could and I'm so grateful for that," Latu said today.

"But it was right there. I could see it but I just couldn't touch it. It's heartbreaking but the Silver Ferns will be fine, I'm pretty sure they'll take the cup."

Latu must now wait until after the world championship before she is eligible to play for the Silver Ferns.

At 24, a long and fruitful international career beckons, but today that thought is of little comfort to the in-form shooter and "passionate New Zealander".

"I was born here, I've lived here my whole life, I've never left the country to play netball, it's just unfair," she said.

"Hopefully what's happened to me, everybody else can learn from."

Latu admitted the uncertainty had adversely affected her in recent weeks.

Although she had presented a calm exterior in public and told her family not to get too excited in case the worst-case scenario eventuated, she could not avoid raising her own hopes given what was at stake - a chance to fulfil a childhood dream.

"It's been quite hard trying not to get caught up in the hype and the fact that I had been named. I couldn't help myself," she said.

"I tried to tell my parents not to get too excited for me and just not talk about it, but I did get my hopes up and that's why it's so devastating.

"I have so much passion for the game and I wanted it so badly that I let myself go. I probably shouldn't have, because I knew there was a chance this would happen, but I've been wanted to do this since I was a little kid."

You get the feeling if Latu had the chance to make a different call when she made the decision to play for Samoa, she would. But she must live by her decision.

"Hindsight is a great thing," she said. "Another couple of months and I'll be available for New Zealand."

NNZ chief executive Raelene Castle said the national body had tried every avenue possible with Ifna associations to work through the issue before taking it to the CAS.

"We believed the case for Cathrine to become eligible was strong based on the previous Ifna precedent and so to not have the opportunity to have it heard by an independent body due to a technical ruling on timing is very disappointing."

The national selectors will take a couple of weeks to make a final review of available players for the final place in the world championship team.

The leading contenders are expected to be Southern Steel shooter Daneka Wipiiti and Canterbury Tactix goal attack Anna Thompson.

- NZPA