World Cup Bound Kelpies

The sport of netball has shown the IOC they are ready and waiting for an Olympic call up, as the first ever Men’s Netball World Cup was endorsed by the world governing body.

In a post released on World Netball social channels this month, fans were shown a clip headlined by the audio “more netball” - announcing the staging of World Cups would now happen every two years, and the activation of a first ever World Cup for males.

The announcement is likely to position netball as a contender for an Olympics debut - having been the major missing tick-box to submit and be considered as a new sport at the worlds premier sporting event.

AMMNA President Andrew Simons celebrated the news, applauding World Netball for delivering “the single biggest step in men’s netball history” that will create generational change for participation at all levels.

“We’ve watched as Rugby codes, AFL, Soccer and Cricket have gender diversified their pathways to make their sport accessible to all, deploying elite activation strategies that has dialed up participation numbers in those sports exponentially.  We hoped netball would have its day, and although there is more to do in other parts of the pathway to increase male access, this is a clear top down decision from netball that its serious about diversity as a driver of game growth.” Simon’s said.

Netball has the inverse gender incumbency profile compared to other diversifying sports in Australia - with the female category the majority of the participation base, the only commercialized product and until now the only governing body endorsed gender allowed to compete in the sports signature events - the World Cup and Commonwealth Games.

This unique profile means the road to gender diversifying the pathway at all levels must be carefully curated to ensure the sport continues to drive female empowerment as it has for several decades.

“Whilst some netball circles have viewed male category growth and female empowerment as two competing priorities at odds with each other, we’ve always seen them as positively interdependent.  Every player, official and admin in our organisation has played a role in the women’s pathway, knowing and respecting the females as the founders and scalers of netball.  We are here because we love the game and want to play our small part in growing it and making it accessible to all.” Simon’s said.

The news comes just 4 years after World Netball and Netball Australia inked the growth of men’s netball into their strategic plans. The Liz Ellis chaired State of the Game review in Australia made several citations and recommendations to grow the men’s category, highlighting the need for gender and cultural diversity to grow the overall sport.

“We’ve got a lot to thank Netball Australia for in setting the foundations for male category growth and integration into elite programming.  We’ve amassed millions of fans through digital and broadcast, and inspired many other parts of the world to grow their elite program for men.” Simon’s added.

Simon’s also heaped praise on what he called “a long list of stakeholders and volunteers who should feel sweat equity in this milestone announcement for men in netball”.

“This milestone wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of generations of male netball administrators, officials and athletes in our national and member bodies who played their part in pioneering and showcasing men’s netball since the 1980s.”  Simon’s said.

A growing list of national male teams are lined up to seek qualification, with countries such as Australia, New Zealand, England, Jamaica, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Singapore, Tonga, Fiji and Samoa all featuring in recent elite men’s netball activations around the globe.

AMMNA International Director Clare McCabe has been spearheading the growth of the Australian Male Team tours globally - taking semi-elite and elite teams to Europe, the Pacific and Asia in recent years.

Her programming has seen the category broadcast to millions in recent years, courtesy of activations alongside elite women’s competitions. This included a joint tour for the Kelpies and Diamonds in the APAC region, and the recent tour to England vs the Thorns embedded within their Superleague.

“It’s a long list of countries that now have representative teams ready to play, and the gap between the founding countries for men’s netball (Aus and NZ) and the rest of the world is slimming.  The mind boggles at the athleticism and level of competition we will see in years to come at World Cup level” McCabe said.

A stalwart administrator of the men’s game, McCabe hails from the women’s world having umpired several World Cup and elite competitions.

“Our organisation was inundated with messages from past and present players as the news dropped, with one consistent theme.  On behalf of the tens of thousands of boys and men out there in Australia who have played and love this game, it’s a message of absolute gratitude to World Netball for recognizing us in their future.”  McCabe said.

The Kelpies and national age feeder teams will head into their international season in coming months, with their next tour being planned.