Low Wages, Increasing Demand Forcing Netball Players To Leave The Sport Early

New Zealand Netball Players' Association CEO Tim Lythe said that "low wages combined with ever increasing demands of the professional era is forcing some players from the sport too early," according to Dana Johannsen of the NEW ZEALAND HERALD. The advent of the transtasman league "has given some players the opportunity to earn a fulltime living from the sport, while others are at least earning a bit more than the petrol money players of Jodi Brown's era earned when they were starting out." Teams have operated on a salary cap of just NZ$300,000 ($246,000) in the competition's five years. Split 12 ways that is just NZ$25,000. Top players take a big chunk of the cap, while the rest receive only the minimum player payment of NZ$12,000 (NZ HERALD, 3/20).