How does netball build on Commonwealth gold medal?
Friday 27 April 2018 19:37, UK
Professional players, a global game and netball in the Olympics? We spoke to Wasps director of netball Tamsin Greenway to ask how netball should capitalise on England's Commonwealth gold.
The Roses' thrilling gold medal on the Gold Coast less than a week ago has catapulted netball onto the front and back pages and made superstars of the 12 players in Tracey Neville's squad who claimed the nation's first world title in the sport.
This weekend the sport's domestic competition returns with four matches, including the champions Wasps Netball against the league's most successful side, Team Bath, live on Sky Sports.
Netball has never had a better chance to make its mark, so we spoke to former England international Greenway to pick out six areas the sport can build on its time in the spotlight.
England’s wins were great sports occasions, they were one-goal games, they went all the way and everyone was in it with that – that is the beauty of sport and there is so much more we can do for that in women’s sport.
Superleague
We have lots of people who play netball, but not a lot of people who go out and watch the game at the elite level in the country.
The league is the most important tool and the commercial tool that the brand has got - especially in this country, we should be taking note of what the Australians have done with their competitions over there.
It gives people the opportunity to watch the sport week in, week out which is really important. If you are in England you will support England whatever sport they are playing, the challenge now is to make people fans of a team like they are in football, rugby and other sports.
That's the way forward - converting all those who fell in love with the sport over the last two weeks to people who will go out and watch a live game.
We have got a quality sport and the challenge is to be able to see that sport, from all over the world regularly rather than just every four years.
A Global Game
You have leagues in Australia, New Zealand and England and now South Africa are setting up a league of their own too.
There is now an opportunity for these players to play in more competitions and become a full-time netball player all year round while still playing internationals and getting enough of a break.
As a player that would have been my dream to play three months in Australia and then three months in England while still getting the chance to play for England as well.
It is tough to do, as it means all the governing bodies coming together and in the UK and South Africa getting investors into the league and growing commercially like Australia and New Zealand.
It will give players all over the world, including African and Caribbean athletes, the opportunity to be global players and progress the game too.
Professional Era
It's amazing that England started a full-time programme, but we are in the very early stages of that, the reality is that it is 16-18 athletes.
But we have 10 franchises in the UK that all have 15 athletes - that is 150 women and a small percentage of those are professional so there are gaps.
Some are training regularly, but I have three-quarters of my team who are having to work full-time as well - in Australia that doesn't happen you have eight fully professional teams where players are getting paid properly.
We have to invest in the league, make sure it's not just those 16-18 players that are training full-time with the England programme but players knocking on their door and a bigger pool of players helping those at the top.
Youth Development
England have been really proactive here in giving the Superleague teams the chance to run their own academies.
The pathway for a 12-year-old to play for England is really long but the pathway for a 12-year-old to play for an U15 academy team is not very long.
In the past it was at the very top international level but now, with the teams underneath there is a much bigger buy in with those teams looking to create players.
We have a world-class team but the average age is quite high - there will be a lot of fallout after the World Cup in 2019 and if we don't want to find ourselves where New Zealand are now then we have to start putting the work in now.
Support and Coverage
The has to be an attitude from both sides to support this, I think Sky's coverage of the Superleague has done some amazing things for netball but now as women, we all need to start repaying that.
We can't moan about sport not being shown, or having enough sponsorship if we don't go along ourselves and support it.
There are Superleague games this weekend, but also in football, rugby too. We love the big events but we are not getting a high percentage of regular women viewers watching at the venues or on the TV.
There has to be the buy-in from women who think and want their daughters to do these sports to take them to the games and take them regularly.
The media have been great this week with the coverage, getting to know you pieces in the papers and much more but there are only so many lifestyle pieces you can do, netball is sport so you want the heroes and villains, the teams at the top and the bottom, those real, gritty sports stories - that is what sport is about.
Next Stop Olympics?
For any international sport to survive you need to have more than two teams competing with other.
The Games showed that there is no-one to be fearful of anymore and netball has real team competing at the top - on any off day any team can beat anyone.
Malawi beat New Zealand and the rest of the African teams are also running the top nations close - that is the first step.
The reality is that netball is a worldwide sport, in particular played in lots of Commonwealth countries and that was always going to happen with the growth of leagues and more and more money going into them.
The Commonwealths is such a great platform for netball, the teams that play and also because at the Olympics there is so much going on that lots of the team sports become quite hidden and it's not necessarily what people are watching the Olympics for.
The Vitality Superleague returns on Sunday with Wasps in action against Team Bath. Coverage gets underway from 2.45pm on Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Mix, which you can find on channel 287, and is free for all Sky customers
Follow the 2018 Superleague season with us on Sky Sports and through our website skysports.com/Netball with news, previews, reports and expert analysis throughout the season. And also our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkyNetball - #BelieveTheHype
