World Cup Changes, Broadcast Boom for Netball
Netball has been in the news over the past 48hrs with two big announcements.
On Thursday, HER WAY attended a press conference ahead of Sunday’s sold out Super Netball derby between NSW Swifts and Giants, during which I heard heard murmurs involving Hollywood star Whoopi Goldberg, who last year launched a women’s sports network AWSN.
By Friday morning, an official report was released, announcing a three year broadcast deal of Super Netball on the network. The agreement will see 41 SSN games, including finals, broadcast to around 65 countries around the world until 2027.
Super Netball joins a number of other sports to feature on the platform, including WNBL basketball and Hockey One, which have previously done deals to showcase their sports around the world.
Friday’s news came on the back of World Netball’s announcement on Wednesday about a revamp of the sport’s World Cup.
The tournament, which has traditionally been held every four years, will transition to being a biennial event after the 2027 edition in Sydney. In an effort to grow the sport among developing netball nations and showcase their athletes, the World Cup will also employ other changes:
all games will be played at one venue, allowing all competing nations the chance to play in big venues.
The event will be 64 games (instead of 60)
Teams will be in four pools, where the top two from each group after prelim rounds will then play in new ‘Cup’ pools which will play for the title. The bottom two from Pool groups will play for a new ‘Plate’ title (9th spot).
In the alternate years, other international tournaments will take place.
Another big announcement was the planning for an inaugural men’s World Cup in coming years. With netball pushing for inclusion at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, netball’s participation across both men and women is a key consideration.
HER WAY asked England and NSW Swifts star Helen Housby (pictured below), who first represented her country at the 2015 World Cup, for her thoughts on making the tournament every two years:
“I love having international netball in the calendar, and I think if it means players are going to be able to play regularly against the best countries in the world, then that’s only a good thing.
I think it’s quite exciting. It almost feels like The World Cup - it’s so far in between each one, I don’t mind if they’re a little bit closer together. I think it’s good to test yourself more regularly.”
