Netball’s a big hit in North
Super competition matches won’t be the last here
SUPER Netball’s first foray to the Far North was an overwhelming success but it only scratched the surface of the region’s enormous potential to host elite competition, according to Cairns Netball operations manager Tanya Dearns.
Three top-level games were played at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena during the weekend, attracting sellout crowds.
Tickets for Sunday’s clash between “home” side the Queensland Firebirds and minor premier Melbourne Vixens sold out in just four hours.
Dearns believed the overwhelming support from the Cairns community had put the region in good stead to secure Super Netball games in the future.
“Had we not been restricted by COVID, I think you probably would have sold that stadium four times over, to be honest,” she said.
“The amount of interest that we had here at the association and prior to the weekend with people wanting to buy tickets was very high.
“We’d like to think that, with the success that has come from the weekend and the feedback that we’ve received as an association from the powers that be that actually make those decisions around the draw, if we can get it sorted, we can probably get a game a year if we work hard for it.
“I think it proved to those living in the metropolitan areas that the regional areas are hanging out for top-level netball.
“It certainly gives young people the opportunity to see world-class athletes and (to) aspire to be like them.”
Super Netball chief executive Chris Symington said Cairns was firmly on the league’s radar.
“A lot of the stats that I hear coming out of Queensland,
and Cairns in particular, is that there’s a large appetite for netball there,” he said.
“One of the advantages of being able to take the competition up there was to be able to see what Cairns has to offer ... and just to build those relationships with the local community and set a strong foundation for us to potentially come back.”
Symington said the league regularly took games to regional areas, with the aim of expanding the competition’s footprint.
“The way that we get embraced when we come to the regional areas is just fantastic; and I know the teams and the players really enjoy coming to the regions as well,” he said.
“As a league, we want to make sure we’re not just basing ourselves in the major cities but that we get out to the grassroots as well.”