Chaotic start as ‘no-shows’ disrupt Netball champs

PORT ELIZABETH: This year’s edition of the Women’s Netball National Championships had a chaotic start with some teams arriving late and others not pitching at all. This resulted in rescheduling of fixtures, putting pressure on participating teams.

“We work with rules and regulations. There is a program that was communicated prior to the event,” said Director Demarcations Mami Diale.

“We as Netball South Africa made follow-ups with our members. We knew who registered and checked who was not there ...” Diale continued.

Johannesburg arrived late, but were not allowed to play because they didn’t adhere to the rule that teams should be registered before 10am on the first day of the Championships.

The senior A section was supposed to be divided into two parts – Senior A1 with six teams and Senior A2 with seven teams but Umgungundlovu (Senior A2) from KZN didn’t arrive and the Ethekwini team asked to play in the B section.

In completed fixtures, Jenny van Dyk’s Tshwane, who represent North Gauteng, hit the ground running with a 90-20 victory over Rustenburg’s Bojanala team in Senior Section A2. In their second match of the day, Tshwane beat Sarah Baartman district from Northern Cape 113-13

Nelson Mandela Bay A team represented the host city well, beating Ehlanzeni from Ermelo 44-23.

Coach Des Neville said she was impressed with her team’s performance.

“Our first game went well. It was good to get one match behind us. It’s always good to take to the court to see what you have and what the players are giving you,” said Neville.

“We had a good run. I managed to put all my players on court, so I’m very pleased with that.”

Neville said it’s come as a surprise that some of the teams withdrew.

“It’s always difficult to play more than one game a day, even if you have very fit and top players ... It’s going to be interesting to see how my team goes with three games per day,” she concluded.

In other Section A matches, Mangaung Metro from Bloemfontein overpowered Middelburg’s Nkangala by 81-13, Bojanala lost 27-81 to Cape Town, Cape Winelands beat Nkangala 84-18 and DR Kenneth Kaunda whipped Ehlanzeni 74-15.