New moves mean netball faces rocky future

For all the noise they made when the series was launched a few years ago, it’s been disappointing to see stakeholders making regressive steps this season, with the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League being both shortened in length and restricted in reach.

They have provided reasons – or excuses, perhaps – and have tried to put a positive spin on the changes, but for an event which was expected to provide a launching pad to promote African netball and offer crucial opportunities to players, it doesn’t look good.

Having been restricted to Pretoria for the first couple of campaigns in its embryonic stage, the league sprouted wings two years ago when it was expanded to other provinces, and last season it was played in Durban, Cape Town and Bloemfontein.

This year it has gone back to Gauteng, and while games will be played in Joburg and Pretoria, the fixture list is hardly reflective of a national event with teams and fans based around the country.

Of equal concern is the reduction in the length of the series, which has been cut by a couple of weeks.

The organisers have pointed to a schedule clash with the recent Commonwealth Games, claiming they wanted to ensure the tournament’s top players were available.

But when a competition lasts only two months, and it is the only semi-professional league on the continent, it seems bizarre that space could not be found in an adjusted fixtures list for such an important tournament.

The annual series has offered lucrative prizes and bonuses, giving players a rare chance to earn financial incentives on home soil, and the national team has improved significantly since the league was launched, but its long- term value will rest on its longevity and expansion.

For netball to challenge more popular sports and raise its public profile, in order to attract more sponsors and create a fully professional league, consistent growth is crucial.

While the Proteas have not been able to close the gap on the top four teams in the world, or challenge for major medals, there is little doubt that the additional experience gained by individuals in the Premier League has played a key role in lifting the standard of the national squad.

And with no other elite league being played in Africa, the collapse of the domestic series could have dire consequences for a continent which has started to display some depth on the netball court, with the likes of Malawi and Uganda flaunting their talent.

With the league sponsors’ longterm deal soon coming to an end, and with former sports minister Fikile Mbalula having been removed from the post after acting as a driving force for the sport, South African netball again finds itself at a crossroads.

Either stakeholders must find a way to revitalise the Premier League, expand it and ensure more space for it on the calendar, or local netball will find itself at the same point it was five years ago, begging for coverage and support. And that’s not a good place in which to be.