If you are a bona fide netball nerd like me, you want everyone to know just how great a sport netball is, and get incensed when you hear people make derisory comments about it being “a little girl’s game” “can’t move with the ball” “non contact” etc. Technically, these comments carry some truth but dismissing a game when you have only seen it played at school is like comparing touch rugby played by 7 year olds to watching the All Blacks clash with the Wallabies – yes, it’s the same sport but it’s now played by grown ups!!!!
I defy anyone who watches an international game of netball to dare say it is either soft or slow. I was encouraged to hear a comment made by a guy sitting behind me at a recent Wasps v Manchester Thunder Superleague match exclaim to his girlfriend “it’s so physical” as yet another player put her body on the line and crashed onto the wooden playing surface. He was constantly amazed by the accuracy of the shooters and the speed at which the game was being played. I have no idea whether he was a complete netball virgin or if he indeed stands on the sideline each weekend and supports his girlfriend, but one can only hope that he left the match with a really positive opinion of the game. As players, we know what an amazing sport netball is, but to change the consensus of the uninitiated of it being a soft girlie game, top quality matches need to get more exposure to the masses.
Flip over to the other side of the world where the new Suncorp Super Netball league launched this year. 10 teams featuring the best players in the world including top English and other international imports. All 5 matches are shown live on primetime television each week across two networks. Added to that, the Netball Live App that can be downloaded and subscribed to, even in the UK, for around £15 per year allowing you to watch all five full matches each week (70 full matches per season!!!!) and keeps you up to date with all the news from the league. The arenas in which they play are bigger and generally sell out. The crowd includes as many men as women, but with mixed netball being a big sport in Australia, men’s perception and understanding of the game is vastly different to that of most men in the UK, whose only positive comment on netball seems to be aimed at the length of the player’s dresses!
In a world obsessed with reality TV and when discussion on the size of Kim Kardashian’s backside can take up 2 pages in a magazine, we should be focussing on positive role models for young girls. Netballers are elite athletes. They have realistic, healthy bodies achieved by good nutrition and exercise. They understand that nothing in life is handed to you on a plate and to achieve their goals, they must focus and put in years of hard work. As Sport England continue to push the “This Girl Can” campaign, it’s such a shame that the biggest female sport in the country still fails to get much of a look in against the bastions of predominately male dominated sports, but perhaps the tide is beginning to turn. When the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth games showed the agonisingly close England matches against both New Zealand and Australia, netball received universal approval and alot of new fans – men and women alike. But then the games were over and netball went back to Sky Sports, only to be viewed by those who subscribe. Good on the BBC for recently showing one of the Quad Series matches on primetime TV and thumbs up too to Sky Sports who are also upping their coverage to 2 live matches per week so although it’s only baby steps, perhaps the message is finally beginning to filter through. Netball Rocks!!!!!!