World Netball Series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Current season or competition: 2009 World Netball Series |
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 2009 World Netball Series logo |
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| Sport | Netball |
|---|---|
| Motto | Netball just got hotter |
| Inaugural season | 2009 |
| No. of teams | 6 |
| Most recent champion(s) |  New Zealand |
The World Netball Series is a new international netball competition that was contested for the first time in October 2009. The new competition features modified rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens.[1][2] The competition is scheduled to be held annually in Manchester, England until at least 2011, and will be contested by the six top national netball teams in the world, according to the IFNA World Rankings at the end of the previous year.[3]
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[edit] Background
Before 2008, the major competitions in international netball were the Netball World Championships and the netball event of the Commonwealth Games, both held every four years. Elite national teams also participated in yearly test series, with others playing in regional events. However, several significant changes in international netball occurred in 2008. Changes to international test rules were finalised at an International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) congress in Auckland in 2007, and progressively rolled out across netball-playing countries in 2008.[4] The IFNA also introduced a new world rankings system to compare the performances of national teams.[5] In England, a campaign was started advocating netball's inclusion in the Olympic Games, as a demonstration sport in 2012 and potentially as a competitive sport from 2016.[6] In the Southern Hemisphere, the sport attained semi-professional status in Australia and New Zealand with the introduction of the ANZ Championship.[7][8]
Also, in December 2008 a new international netball competition was announced, the World Netball Series, to be contested in 2009 under modified rules.[1] The new rules had been trialled by England junior and senior squads over a 12-month period.[9] DVDs were sent to coaches of the participating teams for consultation. Some of the new rules were announced in December 2008, including six-minute playing quarters and power plays;[1][10] others were announced in February 2009.[9]
[edit] Playing rules
The World Netball Series is played over three days, featuring modified rules ("FastNet") designed to make games faster and more television-friendly, with the ultimate aim of raising the sport's profile and attracting more spectators and greater sponsorship.[11][12][13] The modified rules are outlined below.[14]
- Timing: Each quarter lasts only six minutes, compared with 15 minutes in normal international netball competition. Breaks in between quarters are two minutes each. Injury time-outs are 30 seconds only; standard rules allow for one initial two-minute injury time-out.
- Coaching: Coaches can give instructions to players from the sidelines during play, from in front of their playing bench. Standard international rules do not allow coaching during play.
- Substitutions: As in basketball,[15] teams will be allowed to use rolling substitutions, with no stoppages in play per substitution and with unlimited substitutions per quarter. Standard international rules only allow substitutions either between quarters or when a player is injured.
- Power plays: Each team can separately nominate one "power play" quarter, in which each goal scored by that team counts for double points. This is somewhat similar to powerplays in One Day International and Twenty20 cricket,[15] although it is not a feature of standard netball.
- Two-point shots: Similar to three-point field goals in basketball and two-point goals in six-a-side indoor netball, the goal shooter (GS) and goal attack (GA) may shoot goals from outside the shooting circle. These goals count for two points; in a power-play quarter, they would count for four points. Umpires raise one arm for a single-point goal and two arms for a two-point goal. In standard netball rules, goals can only be shot from within the shooting circle and count for one point only.
- Centre passes: After each goal, the team that conceded the goal takes the next centre pass; teams alternate taking the first centre pass of each quarter. Under normal rules, a coin toss determines the first centre pass of the match, after which centre passes alternate between the two teams.
- Tied scores: Ties will be decided by penalty shoot-outs, similar to those in association football.[16] Often in competitive netball, tied games simply continue until one team wins in extra time, or else subsequently achieves a two-goal advantage.
[edit] Format
The competition is held over three days. Each team plays each other once during the first two days in a round-robin format. The four highest-scoring teams from this stage progress to the finals, played on the final day of competition, in which the 1st-ranked team plays the 4th-ranked team, while 2nd plays 3rd. The winners of these two matches contest the Grand Final; the remaining teams contest the third- and fifth-place playoffs.[13]
[edit] Venue
The inaugural tournament was being held at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England. The venue is the largest indoor arena in Europe, capable of seating around 20,000 spectators.[17] It also hosted the netball competition of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The city of Manchester also contains the worldwide headquarters of the IFNA.
[edit] Organisation
The World Netball Series was organised by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA), in conjunction with the national governing bodies of the six competing nations, as well as the Manchester City Council, England Netball, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and UK Sport.[18] The Manchester City Council and UK Sport also contributed funding towards the competition for its inaugural year,[1] although funding from UK Sport is uncertain beyond 2009.[19] In April 2009, The Co-operative Group were announced as title sponsors for the World Series. The Co-operative are also title sponsors of the Netball Superleague, the premier domestic netball competition in Britain.[20]
The 2009 World Netball Series was telecast in Australia by Network Ten; in Jamaica by Television Jamaica;[21] in New Zealand by TV ONE; and in the United Kingdom by Sky3.
[edit] Reception
Australian coach Norma Plummer greeted the new tournament positively: "If you want your sport to keep growing these days, it's got to become up with the times and keep having innovations that make the game exciting for not only the players, but all the spectators."[22] But Plummer also expressed some reservations about power plays being used against substantially weaker teams, and also about penalty shootouts and the new centre pass rule.[16]
Netball New Zealand (NNZ) Chief Executive Raelene Castle stated that she was "excited about what the new competition could bring to the ever-increasing profile of Netball internationally".[23] However, Castle also acknowledged that the shortened version of the game "may not be for everyone". After discussing the new rules with Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken, she agreed that there were some rules that they both did not agree with, including two-point shots from outside the shooting circle.[9] NNZ High Performance manager Tracey Fear agreed that 2009 was the "right time" for such a tournament, but also expressed concerns over two-point goals and potential player burnout.[2][24] New Zealand netball and basketball player Donna Wilkins also stated her concerns about the sport becoming too similar to basketball.[25]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Newstalk ZB (2008-12-02). "Innovative World Series planned for next year". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/netball/news/article.cfm?c_id=69&objectid=10546104. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ a b Marshall, Jane (2009-02-05). "Kiwis keen on novel netball variant". The Press. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4838104a1823.html. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ "Samoa prepares for World netball series". Samoa Observer. 2008-12-18. http://www.samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2424:samoa-prepares-for-world-netball-series&catid=34:sports&Itemid=54. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
- ^ ONE Sport (New Zealand) (2008-02-27). "Rule changes set to impact". TVNZ. http://tvnz.co.nz/content/1605547. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ^ "IFNA: World Rankings". http://www.netball.org/ifna.aspx?id=94. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
- ^ "Netball targeting Olympic status". BBC. 2008-04-25. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/netball/7367670.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ^ Australian Associated Press (2007-10-09). "Professional era coming soon: Ellis". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/news/Sport/New-netball-comp-named-ANZ-Championship/2007/10/09/1191695867800.html. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
- ^ Johannsen, Dana (2008-03-29). "Glitz and hype turn netball into money game". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10500820. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- ^ a b c Johannsen, Dana (2009-02-05). "Innovations sure to raise eyebrows". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10555248. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
- ^ "Malawi Queens to play in Manchester, World Series". Nyasa Times. 2008-12-02. http://www.nyasatimes.com/entertainment/sport/netball/2053.html. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
- ^ "Rhone excited about World Netball Series". The Jamaica Star (online). 2009-01-12. http://www.jamaica-star.com/thestar/20090112/sports/sports4.html. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ Irvine, Mairi (2009-01-12). "New Style Netball to be Held in the UK". UK Sport. http://www.uksport.gov.uk/news/netball_as_never_seen_before/. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ^ a b "Calling All Netball Fans!". IFNA. 2009-04-03. http://www.netball.org/news.aspx?id=293. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
- ^ "World Netball Series: Rules". http://www.worldnetballseries.com/_site/rules.html. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
- ^ a b Medhurst, Natalie (2009-02-06). "World Netball Series may fizz without crowd support". The Roar.com. http://www.theroar.com.au/2009/02/06/the-world-netball-series-may-fall-flat-without-crowd-support/. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ a b Warren, Adrian (2008-12-01). "Netball to try short game format". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://news.smh.com.au/sport/netball-to-try-short-game-format-20081201-6ooq.html. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ^ "MEN Arena: History". http://www.men-arena.com/about/?page_id=68. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ "Netball as never seen before". IFNA. 2009-01-14. http://www.netball.org/news.aspx?id=271. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
- ^ Newstalk ZB, ONE Sport (2009-03-23). "Grim future for international netball". TVNZ. http://tvnz.co.nz/netball-news/grim-future-international-netball-2578505. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
- ^ Benammar, Emily (2009-04-24). "World Netball Series secures sponsorship deal with Co-operative Group". Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/netball/5213747/World-Netball-Series-secures-sponsorship-deal-with-Co-operative-Group.html. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
- ^ "Sunshine Girls begin Fastnet campaign". Radio Jamaica. 2009-10-08. http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/22208/48/. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- ^ Williams, Rebecca (2009-02-05). "Game to be shortened". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25011208-5001023,00.html. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
- ^ "Silver Ferns to take part in World Netball Series". Netball New Zealand. 2009-02-05. http://www.netballnz.co.nz/default.aspx?s=articledisplay&id=66991.
- ^ Newstalk ZB (2009-02-05). "Netball to trial two point shots". TVNZ. http://tvnz.co.nz/netball-news/netball-trial-two-point-shots-2464550. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
- ^ Miles, Penny (2009-03-19). "Netball changes opposed". The Dominion Post. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/netball/2275027/Netball-changes-opposed. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
[edit] External links
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