Indigenous netball player shares "disgusting" hate letter after sponsorship drama
<p>An Indigenous netball star has shared a vile hate letter she received from a netball fan, two years on from the Netball Australia sponsorship drama.</p>
<p>Prior to her first game with the Australian Diamonds national team in 2022, Donnell Wallam, a Noongar woman from Western Australia, refused to wear the uniform which featured the logo of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.</p>
<p>The 30-year-old athlete shared that her reasoning was over racist comments made by Rinehart's late father in the 1980s, when he suggested Aboriginal people should be sterilised.</p>
<p>In response to Wallam's boycott, Gina Rinehart dramatically tore up her $15 million sponsorship deal with Netball Australia, which had been set to run until the end of 2025.</p>
<p>Now, two years on from the sponsorship drama, Wallam shared a photo on of hate mail she received about the controversy, from a woman named “Mary”.</p>
<p>The letter posted to Instagram, which accused Wallam of being "radicalised by the Aboriginal left", includes a mocking imitation of an Indigenous Acknowledgement of Country paying “respects to British and European elders”.</p>
<p>“As if the hate online wasn’t enough, Mary thought she’d send me a letter,” the netballer wrote. “I’m beyond disgusted and hurt but I will never stop advocating for my people. Blak, Loud and Proud. ALWAYS.”</p>
<p>The letter reads, “I am writing to you to express my sadness that your [sic] cost the Australian Diamonds, of $15,000,000, caused by your radically influenced comments about Gina Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock.” </p>
<p>“Mr Hancock’s comments about serialisation [sic] of Aboriginals was disgusting and made by one man. However, at the time his daughter was not yet born as you were not yet born. You were influenced by the nasty activist Aboriginal clique that hates everything Australia. You fell into their spell and caused such loss of donations to Australia Netball. Hang your head in shame girl, for being manipulated by the radical Aboriginal filth.”</p>
<p>Mary adds that she went to school in Perth “and had many good Noongar friends that I still love today”. </p>
<p>“You are a disgrace to the Noongar Tribe,” she wrote. “I will never watch you play, ever.”</p>
<p>Wallam’s supporters slammed the letter as “disgusting”, saying they will always support the inspirational athlete.</p>
<p>“You are such an inspiration for so many, I am completely disgusted but sadly not shocked, what an absolute piece of s**t this woman is,” one wrote.</p>
<p>“I will defs be watching your next game to support you,” another said. “Sounds like Mary’s loss!”</p>
<p><em>Image credits: DARREN PATEMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Editorial </em></p>
