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| This women’s sport has fought for more than 50 years to be in the Olympics. Could Brisbane 2032 change its fortunes? | MRK News |
(MRK News )—
With big blocks, last-minute goals and shocking upsets, netball is making a big impression on the world stage, and it is growing every year.
The sport now appears in the Commonwealth Games and has leagues around the world, as well as the Netball World Cup every four years.
Despite its global prominence, one place it has yet to reach is the Olympics. For more than 50 years, people across all levels and areas of the sport have been lobbying for its inclusion in the Games. In 1995, the IOC recognized World Netball as an International Federation, meaning it could access some additional funds but didn’t go so far as to be in the Games.
Although the IOC has not excluded netball because it’s a majority women’s sport, a lack of investment and global awareness – which both generally affect the development of women’s sports worldwide – have kept it from getting where it needs to be, multiple people told CNN.
But with a renewed push for gender equality in sport and the 2032 Summer Olympics taking place in Australia, a strong netball nation, there are hopes it could possibly join the Olympic program in Brisbane.
Skyrocketing interest
Netball is a team sport most similar to basketball and handball. Two teams of seven players play on a court and score goals by passing the ball around the court and throwing it through the opposing team’s net.
For decades, netball was concentrated mostly in Commonwealth countries – it was first played in the United Kingdom – and was relatively unknown internationally.
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Serena Guthrie of England and Khadijah Williams of Jamaica battle for the ball during the Netball Bronze Medal Match between England and Jamaica at SECC Precinct during day eleven of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on August 3, 2014 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. |
“When I initially went over at 16 to train in Bath, nobody in the UK, or really, I think across a lot of the northern hemisphere, knew much about elite professional netball. It was still very much kind of one man and his dog who would come to games and support, or your family,” said Serena Guthrie, a retired netball player who played internationally for England from 2008-2022.
“There wasn’t much commercial interest in the sport either or anything like that. So we all kind of just did it for the love, like most people starting out any kind of sport.”
But during her career, interest in the game in England went “to a different level overnight” – crowds at matches, community club memberships and the commercial value of the sport “skyrocketed,” she said. That’s partly due to England’s gold medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in which they upset Australia.
For a new sport to be included in the Olympics, the host country must put it forward to the IOC. Host countries tend to propose sports that are popular with domestic audiences and where they have a high chance of medaling. For example, in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, softball, baseball, lacrosse and flag football are among the new sports being introduced.
With Australia being the top-ranked netball team in the world and likely to win gold in a possible tournament, the Brisbane 2032 Games could be netball’s time to take the Olympic stage. The Brisbane 2032 Organizing Committee did not respond to multiple interview requests from CNN.
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Australia was crowned champion during the Netball World Cup Medal Presentation on August 6, 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. |
“If you watch the World Cup, if you watch the Commonwealth Games, if you watch any of those games, it is competition. The netball competition is always such a great quality,” said Jenny van Dyk, the coach of Spar Proteas, South Africa’s national netball team. “Why is that not enough if we have women battling it out on a court with a little bit of a different format than what everybody’s used to?”
Much of that advocacy needs to come from World Netball, the sport’s international governing body, said Riana Bezuidenhout, who manages TuksNetball at the University of Pretoria and is on a South African government taskforce studying the professionalization of netball in the country.
“I think the leadership within netball, from World Netball, really needs to take a vigilant stance on it. They’ve got to prove that, in the past 50 years, they have grown netball substantially,” Bezuidenhout said.
World Netball declined an interview, instead referring CNN to its website for information about its work for inclusion in the Olympics.
“World Netball congratulates the City of Brisbane on the announcement confirming that it will host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and declares its intention to work with Netball Australia to make a compelling case for Netball’s inclusion in the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games,” states a news release after the announcement of the Brisbane 2032 Games.
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