Border issues spark ugly war of words in Australia’s premier netball league

An ugly war of words has erupted in Australia’s premier netball competition.

West Coast Fever’s clash with the Melbourne Vixens has sensationally been scrapped after a handful of Vixens players were not given exemptions to travel into the state.

Melbourne did not want to play without their full team and refused to board the plane.

It led the Fever to release an extremely pointed statement.

West Coast Fever is extremely disappointed that Melbourne Vixens have refused to travel to Perth for our fixture at RAC Arena on Sunday, June 27.

This is not in the best interests of the competition and devastating for our club, members, sponsors and fans.

We are awaiting a ruling from Netball Australia on what this means in regards to the result of the game.

We apologise to all the West Coast Fever members and fans that have purchased tickets for this game and will work through options with all ticket holders for the game as soon as possible.

The Vixens beat the Fever in last season’s grand final.

The club has been no stranger to controversy in recent years, with the Fever handed the biggest penalty in Australian netball history after the club was found to have breached the salary cap in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.