By Linda Pearce
Mark Falvo sees potential everywhere. In the community game. In Super Netball. In the Diamonds. In the commercial possibilities that come from an ambitious, united sport.
Now, with a four-year contract to lead Netball Australia and a home World Cup less than a year away, the experienced sports administrator has the opportunity - and the responsibility - to turn that potential into something more tangible.
As Netball Australia’s interim Chief Executive Officer since late April, and for more than a year before that as CEO of the Netball World Cup Sydney 2027 Local Organising Committee, Falvo has had a close-up view of the sport he is now charged with permanently leading.
“Certainly, my time on the Netball World Cup and then in the interim CEO seat wearing two hats has given me a good grounding in the game and all the various stakeholders, and what the unique selling points and strengths of the game are,’’ Falvo said.
“That’s undoubtedly its strength at community level, just how much a part of the fabric of Australian society it is, but also really understanding what a great product the professional game is, the ferocity of the on-court action and the calibre of the athletes, and then we see the icons which are the Australian Diamonds, and what they stand for.
“We’ve achieved so much as a game to this point but I still see, notwithstanding all of that, so much more potential, and so much more opportunity for the game.
“In the year of our centenary, 2027, where we can look back and be proud of what the game has achieved, we can also look forward to what the future holds and what more the game can be.’’
Questions. So many to be answered. Falvo already has plenty of his own.
“How do we really shore up netball’s foundations at the community level, when there’s so much more competition and choice for women and girls?’’ he asked.
“How do we embrace men and boys, who are increasingly taking up the game, as well?
“How do we evolve Super Netball, so that it continues to grow and attract more fans and create more career opportunities for more players?
“And how do we create more value for commercial partners, governments and other stakeholders and really harness all of that opportunity?
“Obviously there’s a big piece there around how the netball ecosystem comes together to achieve all of those outcomes… it’s about how well the game comes together to seize all these opportunities, and that’s really the task that lies ahead for me as the CEO of Netball Australia.’’
To do so, Falvo will embark on a strategic reset, one year out from the start of what is being billed as the biggest and best Netball World Cup.
That means focusing on the specifics of the ambitious 10-year Made in Netball blueprint unveiled in November - one designed to grow, sustain and guide the sport through its centenary and towards 2035, based on the core objective of expanding the netball community to two million people in the decade.
Providing the capacity to invest in the necessary programs and initiatives to achieve that involves laying out what Falvo calls “a series of horizons” around the immediate commercial imperatives of attracting new partners and ensuring a successful start to the new five-year broadcast deal with Nine Entertainment.
It’s about building the netball of tomorrow, he said: the foundations to sustain a thriving sport over its next century. Working closely with the member organisations to determine what that looks like. Then implementing all of the above.
It’s quite the to-do list, and Falvo describes as “the Holy Grail”; the perennial quest to convert vast community support for the country’s No.1 sport for women and girls - complemented by the growing involvement of men and boys - into commercial value at the pointy end.
“From my learnings there’s definitely no silver bullet. It requires the grind and the constant effort to connect,’’ he said.
“It happens at the grassroots level, so we need the leaders of associations and the leaders of clubs to feel like they have an interest in the success of the game at the Super Netball and Diamonds levels.’’
Collaboration is the key to marrying expertise, knowledge and genuine aspiration for netball’s success and unlocking what's possible, Falvo said, acknowledging that “at times I don’t know if that’s always been there’’. While not claiming to have all the answers, his intent is to provide the leadership to help find a way.
The goal is to build new audiences through netball’s return to a major free-to-air footprint in 2027 under the Nine deal, while raising the profile of the athletes, Australia’s world-leading domestic league and the game more broadly.
Falvo knows that Super Netball - despite record attendances - needs to grow in both team numbers and player list sizes to create volume, depth and jobs.
“But obviously all that has to be sustainable,’’ he said. “So we have to think about what is the optimal operating model for the longer term for the league that unlocks that value in terms of parties wanting to invest or being able to invest in an expanded competition.
“We have to ask ourselves: are we at the final resting place for the way that the professional game looks, or is there more opportunity that can be created? And I think that there is, and that’s probably going to necessitate some different thinking about how the league operates and the kind of investment that it attracts.’’
Having spent 15 years in multiple roles at Football Australia, among them Chief Operating Officer and Deputy General Secretary, as well as driving the successful bid to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, Falvo was struck early by the outstanding athleticism, skill and commitment of netball’s elite.
Yet while netball enjoys extraordinary reach at community level, Falvo believes there is still work to do in exposing more people to Super Netball and at international level, where the sport is showcased at its dynamic best. Storytelling can be better, too, as can the still-evolving digital piece.
Based in Sydney, Falvo will commute regularly to Netball HQ in inner Melbourne, especially early in his tenure, but is also anticipating keenly a planned “listening tour” across the states and territories to gain a better understanding of the netball landscape from the bottom up.
His extensive CV spans major-event delivery, high performance, government and international relations, alongside commercial, financial and governance experience.
“My traits are to establish clear strategy and clear accountability, but also to uphold the highest levels of integrity, to create an environment where there’s openness, where people can speak up and offer their ideas and know that they’re going to be heard and factored into the plans,’’ Falvo said.
“So teamwork is a really important part of it and I think that is the great opportunity for the game: when you put all the different parts together there’s quite a sizeable workforce, quite a sizeable community in the game.
“So bringing that together will be my challenge, but that’s something that I’ve always held as a focus and a strength of mine.’’
And with his permanent tenure only just beginning, what would Falvo like to be able to say he helped achieve for netball when it eventually ends?
“I’d love to be able to look back and hand on heart be able to say that that potential that everyone has spoken about for so long has been unleashed,’’ he said.
“To say that it’s now on a course that can’t be altered and it will continue to grow and evolve and attract more participants, attract more fans, be enjoying a period of sustained commercial growth.
“And that everyone will be entirely united and focused on the same opportunities for the game.”
