Outrage Sparked After Aussie All-Boys Netball Team Thrashes All-Girls Team To Win State Title

There has been a huge backlash to an all-boys netball team winning a state title after people found out who their opponents were.

The Queensland Suns Under-17 team beat an all-girls side to claim the Under-17s championship in Brisbane.

There isn't a boys division in the Sunshine State's netball competition due to numbers, according to the Daily Telegraph, so they've been allowed to compete against members of the opposite sex.

They managed to maintain an average winning margin of 29 goals across the season.

They took that winning streak to the final, where they faced off against the Bond University Bull Sharks. They thrashed them 46-12.

QLD Suns Men's & Mixed Netball/Twitter

While the boys would have wanted to celebrate a big season, it appears they were verbally abused for taking part in an all-girls competition.

Queensland Suns coach Tammy Holcroft told The Courier Mail: "The abuse ranged from comments made courtside deliberately within earshot of the Suns contingent, to adults making vulgar comments directly behind the team bench.

"It's disappointing that the frustration was directed at the players.

"At the very core of this, our boys just want to play and they copped the brunt of these comments and behaviours and were made to feel unwelcome and unsupported."

The abuse didn't stop there in the stands either, with people also taking to social media to target the championship-winning players.

That said, most of the comments were directed at the sport's governing body.

One bloke tweeted: "It is an absolute disgrace. How these decisions get made who know. Absolute stupidity and inclusiveness gone mad. Done nothing to inspire girls who were humiliated."

While another added: "I don't know of any sport in the world that would have allowed this to happen, total disgrace."

As a third chimed in, saying: "I think Netball Queensland screwed up really badly here. Not only hurt the girls who have trained so hard and made a mockery of championships but put the Suns in a really s****y position too when they need more support from netball fans to get a boys/mens comp running."

Netball Queensland found itself in the firing line and the governing body was forced to release a statement explaining their decision to allow the all-mens side to compete in a women's league.

"This year, in an effort to showcase the talent in both female and male pathways we offered the Queensland Sun's men's team the opportunity to play in the Nissan State Titles having welcomed the Suns in an invitational capacity in 2020," Netball Queensland CEO Catherine Clark said.

"Just as we have seen in New Zealand with the Cadbury Series, where the Silver Ferns play against the New Zealand Men's Netball team, we are hopeful this will be the catalyst for a stand-alone men's competition in 2022 and inspires more boys to get involved in netball."

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie