Netball SA boss says a South African will replace Plummer as Proteas coach

Outgoing Proteas coach Norma Plummer will be replaced by a South African, as Netball SA (NSA) president Cecilia Molokwane says it’s time to “believe in and groom our own”.   

Australian coaching great Plummer will vacate her position as South Africa’s coach at the of the year and retire from coaching.   

Plummer was appointed in November last year, eight months before the first Netball World Cup hosted in South Africa in July and August. She replaced sacked Dorette Badenhorst, under whom the team suffered a serious decline.   

Under the Australian, who enjoyed success in a previous stint steering the Proteas to fourth place at the 2019 World Cup, South Africa finished a disappointing sixth on home soil at Cape Town International Convention Centre earlier this year.

Plummer will sign off after the Australian tour starting later this month and England tour in December.   

Molokwane shared the succession plan, saying NSA have narrowed their search to two local coaches who will both work with Plummer before she leaves.

The president said that is for smooth transition and continuity from the solid foundation Plummer has laid. 

“There are coaches who will be travelling with the team — one will be going to Australia and when the time is right, we will announce that coach,” Molokwane said.   

“And another will be travelling to England because we want them to work with Norma closely.   

“We don’t want to repeat the mistake of 2019 of just saying ‘Norman go’, and we give the [new] coach the reins.   

“We want that succession plan to say, ‘This is where I was, and this is where I was intending to go, and this is where I see the future with the team’. It’s whether you take it or not but this is how we were doing things, and this is the culture.   

“So, we made sure we will give them the opportunity. There are even [prospective team] managers that are going with the side. We want a succession plan for everything.”   

While Molokwane wouldn’t share the names of the two coaches, current assistant Dumisani Chauke has shown interest in stepping up to the hot seat.   

“It was my wish to have a South African coach coaching at the World Cup but unfortunately things didn’t go the way we anticipated,” Molokwane said.

“So, of course it’s a South African coach that will be appointed as the new coach. We want to groom our own, we want to test our own, we want to believe in our own.”