Excitement builds with countdown to Netball world cup announcement
Several role players in South African netball ranks believe that the time has come to award the first ever Netball World Cup in Africa to South Africa.
The countdown has begun for South Africa to find out whether its bid to host the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023 has been successful.
The Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) established by the International Netball Federation (INF) a year ago is expected to announce the host nation late March or early April.
The final two nations vying to host the most important event on the netball calendar are South Africa and New Zealand after bid presentations made in Singapore late last year.
The INF cannot ignore the fact that netball is on the rise in Africa and that the African continent has never hosted the Netball World Cup.
Although New Zealand have hosted three previous Netball World Cup tournaments, 2023 is the centenary year of netball in New Zealand making the bid process competitive.
Netball South Africa (NSA) President Cecilia Molokwane believes that hosting the World Cup is central to NSA’s long-term strategy to develop the sport.
“Hosting the World Cup would enable us to attract new sponsors, allowing for a strong financial future for NSA and netball in South Africa,” Molokwane said at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
According to Molokwane, hosting the event in 2023 would enable NSA to develop a fully-professional structure, allowing players to pursue a career in netball, and would provide a platform for netball and women to receive the same level of exposure as men’s sports.
“As the top-ranked team in Africa, we want Netball World Cup 2023 to inspire and enable other African countries to grow and develop the sport, and to become full members of the INF,” said Molokwane.
Three African countries – South Africa (5), Malawi (6) and Uganda (7) – are in the world’s top ten, with Zimbabwe (13) and Zambia (16) pushing to improve their world rankings.
The head coach of the SPAR Proteas, Norma Plummer – who coached Australia to two World Cup gold medals, in 2007 and 2011 – said the SPAR Proteas had improved to an extent where they were matching the best teams in the world.
“African netball is rising, there are five African countries ranked in the world’s top 20, three of which are in the world’s top 10 which gives good reason for World Netball to play the World Cup in Cape Town. It’s time,” said Plummer.
SPAR Proteas captain Bongiwe Msomi said the hosting the World Cup in 2023 could be the most important aspect of the current national team’s legacy going forward.
“The SPAR Proteas have done really well on the world stage and we the players understand that what we do is not only for our own benefit, but for something bigger than ourselves. Hosting the World Cup would be a boost for all our sponsors, who have done so much to promote our sport. Up and coming players from all corners of our beautiful country would be able to experience the biggest netball event on home soil,” Msomi concluded.
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