Friday 3 April 2020 09:58, UK
Tracey Neville and Tamsin Greenway discuss the opportunity netball has to coordinate a world calendar, during the latest episode of Off The Court.
With all netball across the world suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, Neville believes this marks a moment in time for the sport to focus upon coordinating as a collective.
"This is a unique opportunity to be able to get together and come up with a league [calendar] that conforms with each other," the former England Vitality Roses head coach said on Sky Sports' Off The Court.
"Australia and New Zealand have both postponed their seasons too. Then you've got the international Quad Series in the diary for September but at the moment, that doesn't look like it's going to run.
"These domestic leagues are saying that they're going to start at some point this year and I think, working together as international netball to coordinate them, would really set the precedent in respect to leading into a really slick international season.
"And, that means not missing out on any of the competitions which are supposed to happen this year."
The topic of a world calendar is something Scotland's new head coach, Greenway, has been passionately discussing for a long time.
"A global season, that at least works for the top six to eight countries in the world as a starting point would surely have its advantages," Greenway said in a Sky Sports column in November last year.
"You only have to look at the rise of England and South Africa having regular opportunities against New Zealand and Australia.
"I'd love to see that happen for the likes of the top African and Caribbean nations too. I want to see the best players in the world in the best leagues, but I also want to make sure that their home country has the same support to improve world netball."
Switching the focus back down to netball within England, Neville has concerns about the ability of Vitality Netball Superleague franchises to ride out this period of inactivity on court.
This week reigning champions Manchester Thunder announced they have turned to the government for assistance in order to look to try and secure the future of the franchise.
"Every franchise has their own unique circumstances as to how they pay their players and some of the franchises are not able to take the furlough," Neville said on Off The Court.
"There are other franchises who are also supplementing other sports and franchises. A partnership with rugby, which one is going to take the priority, where are the finances are going to go?
"So, we're going to come out of this thinking are these franchises going to fold? How are we going to support them? How are they going to get supported?"
Watch the full episode of Off The Court on the Sky Sports YouTube channel as Caroline Barker and Tamsin Greenway are joined by a wealth of guests to look at the key topics within the game.
