Written by Amelia Barnes
Sharelle McMahon has become the first netballer in Victoria to ever be immortalised in bronze in a new statue unveiled today at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena.
The statue is a significant milestone for McMahon, women, and netball, recognising the almost one million people who participate in the sport across Australia every year.
One of the greatest netballers of all time, McMahon played over 200 games for the Melbourne Phoenix and Vixens and won six national premierships. She played a further 118 international games for the Diamonds – making her the second most-capped Diamond to date – including wins at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games; and 1999 and 2007 Netball World Cup before retiring in 2013.
McMahon’s family and friends including her parents, Olive and John McMahon, and former teammate Eloise Southby-Boyle, attended the unveiling held to coincide with International Women’s Day.
Southby-Boyle played her entire career with McMahon, from junior netball right through to Melbourne Phoenix and the Diamonds. She called her teammate and lifelong friend a “once in a generation player” more than worthy of today’s honour.
“We are so stoked that it’s her, that it's a netballer, and thirdly that it's a woman that's being immortalised in bronze.”
Southby-Boyle said McMahon’s gold medal-winning goals at both the 1999 World Cup and 2002 Commonwealth Games increased media attention of netball and contributed to the professionalism of the sport.
“Her ability, elevation, and speed on the court brought people to watch,” Southby-Boyle said. “Particularly when the Diamonds played, her ability to sink shots in the crucial moments made for very exciting netball, and when it's exciting, you get people tuning in… That was all to do with Sharelle.”
The daughter of an AFL footballer (Carlton premiership player Geoff Southby), Southby-Boyle says she noticed from a young age the difference in recognition between male and female athletes.
Less than 12 months ago, the number of female athletes immortalised in bronze in Melbourne was the same as the number of horses – three. Across the city, there are 29 statues of sportsmen.
More widely, in November 2021, the Victorian Government acknowledged 580 statues across Melbourne, with only nine depicting real women.
“There was always the visual representation of men achieving things,” said Southby-Boyle.
Today, McMahon becomes the fifth female athlete – and the first Victorian-born – to receive the honour of a statue in Victoria, joining athletics champions Betty Cuthbert and Shirley Strickland; hockey star Nova Peris; and AFLW premiership player Tayla Harris.
Southby-Boyle hopes seeing more female athletes represented as statues will encourage further participation in women’s sport and visibility of netball. “If you can't see it, you can't be it, so it's an amazing thing that's being invested in.”
“[The statue] makes people talk about netball. It gives us some street cred, and we're mixing it with the best. I think it's fantastic for our sport, but personally for Sharelle, as it really proves her value and commitment to our sport and what we all think of her… We're all very excited to have her in bronze for eternity,” said Southby-Boyle.
When the statue of McMahon was first announced in December 2021, it brought a tear to her mother, Olive McMahon’s, eye. She says her daughter was always a star player, but she never imagined the sporting icon she would become.
“It’s quite moving. It’s amazing to think about,” she said.
Despite everything McMahon has achieved in her career, including now being enshrined at John Cain Arena, both Southby-Boyle and her mother say she remains the same humble, grounded person who grew up in country Bamawm.
“You can take Sharelle McMahon out of Bamawm, but you can’t take Bamawm out of Sharelle McMahon,” said Southby-Boyle.
The McMahon statue was created by renowned British-Australian artists Gillie and Marc who founded the global Statues for Equality project, working to balance gender and racial representation in public statues. Their public works include statues of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in NYC, Oprah Winfrey in San Francisco, and their trademark ‘Dogman’ and ‘Rabbitwoman’ sculptures located across the globe.
Gillie and Marc are currently designing the largest bronze sculpture in the world, depicting 45 of the world’s most endangered species and spanning 192-metres in length, to be unveiled in Singapore in May.
The statue of McMahon is the first of two statues to be funded by the Victorian Government following a Netball Victoria campaign launched on International Women's Day 2021. The second – of former Victorian netball pioneer Anne Henderson – will be erected at the Melbourne Sports Centres, Parkville (State Netball Centre).
