CAITLIN BASSETT: The Super Netball scoring debacle should not have happened. It never would in men’s sport

Carlton beat Melbourne by one-point in an AFL thriller at the MCG on Thursday night.

Now imagine being a Carlton supporter and leaving the ground thinking your team has won another epic, only to learn on the train home the game was actually a draw.

That’s what happened in the Super Netball game between Sunshine Coast Lightning and the Giants, which finished in utter confusion and embarrassment thanks to a score bench blunder.

After protecting a one-goal lead in the dying seconds of the game the Lightning shook hands with their opposition after the final whistle believing they had won with the stadium scoreboard showing 71-70 in their favour.

Disappointed Giants fans left Ken Rosewall Arena but 20 minutes later a discrepancy between the official score bench and Champion Data was revealed which had a 71-all draw as the final score.

According to the rules, in the case of a draw two five-minute halves of extra time will be played with a 90-second break in between.

The umpires left the court and Lightning players, believing they had won, returned to their change room while the Giants team remained on court adamant that the game was not yet finished.

After the stats bench frantically went through the match feed of the final quarter the error was discovered and the stadium scoreboard was officially updated to 71-71, sending the game into overtime rather belatedly.

Umpires and players had no choice but to warm up again, and 50 minutes after the final whistle play resumed with the Giants eventually winning 86-80.

Touted as premiership favourites during pre season, the Diamond-studded Lightning side have failed to fire and are sitting fifth on the ladder — this result will surely impact their chance of making finals.

This is not the first time a score discrepancy has made a farce of the league. Just last season the Adelaide Thunderbirds were awarded a one-goal win over West Coast Fever after a Champion Data error falsely recorded the final score as a draw.

Despite being the second score error in as many years, Netball Australia still do not have a formal process regarding an official score review process.

Technical errors are unfortunately becoming a common occurrence in the league, last year a review conceded an error during a match between the Melbourne Vixens and Collingwood Magpies where two consecutive centre passes were awarded to the Vixens.

In 2019 a game I played in for the Giants against the Fever ended in a controversial draw due to the scoreboard and umpires’ clock not being synced.

As one-off events technical mistakes can be excused but when they keep occurring without changes put in place, the league and sport as a whole starts to look amateur.

It is far too common in women’s sport in Australia, and netball in particular.

Having the best players in the world doesn’t automatically make this the best competition. The standards around it need to lift, because this would simply never happen at an AFL match or during a men’s cricket Test.

Under World Netball and Super Netball rules there is no avenue for teams to appeal an umpires’ decision within a match, appeal a final score or replay a match.

Admittedly scoring in Super Netball has become more complicated since the introduction of the two-point super shot, but so many sporting codes have multiple points for scoring. Why is netball making a habit of dropping the ball?

Is it a resourcing issue, or a staffing issue? Do we need a better review system or a captain’s challenge? It’s time for netball officials to put a pin in these errors.

If there’s one thing we need to get right, it’s the score.

I can appreciate the fact that humans make mistakes but with something as important as the score in what is supposed to be the best netball league in the world, this is making a mockery of the sport and is truly embarrassing.

A lack of resources to get the basics of the game right is a sign netball is still far from professional and it needs to be addressed if netball wants to receive the same respect as AFL, NRL or cricket.