Hoops

Netball announces a super league

anon 124163 you will find that it is the same across nearly every sport that from probably 18-21 you lose so many players.go to etsa park on a saturday during winter and most are young girls,you get a few more at state league who are older but having had some involvment most clubs in netball have trouble retaining players through that age group.as far as entertainment goes the state league always play a game as a curtain raiser to the tbirds but as you only get a 4 min break at half time they have to find something that fits into a 3 min period.so apart from the game itself there isnt that greater entertainment package. i know we all become very protective of our own sport but all sport is in trouble these days,whether its country footy where more teams need to merge each year,basketball,cricket,netball etc.i tend to think that the problem isnt so much losing players from one sport to another but losing them to sport altogether.our changing lifestyles make it harder to stay involved due to work now eating into what was traditionally our leisure time,so many in the age group discussed would be at uni and working on a casual basis and when do they get most their shifts? sat and sun.my daughter faces this dilema as she constantly has to work both days of the w/end.yes we all need to work harder to keep our sports bouyant but our changing society keeps making this task harder and harder

im not saying that b/ball doesnt have issues but as someone who has been involved at the netball they have seen the crowds declining at the elite level now for two years,if we want to make a true comparison on crowd sizes lets look at the 36er crowds against the netball crowds and who comes out in front.the nbl is the premier b/ball comp in australia not the wnbl so who then draws the bigger crowds.i know the 36er crowds were lower this year but getting a winning side back on court and the crowds will lift again.the t/birds are getting smaller crowds and they have never finished lower than 3rd.also with the soccer ,they have a good package but their crowd averages were down on last year and they coulnd sell otu the only final they held.i dont have any involvment at club level to know the woes the district clubs are facing but have heard there are many issues.netball will always pose some threat but it has been around for alot longer than womens b/ball

what i am getting at is that netball has such a huge participation at junior level and has for as long as i can remember but its not translating to big crowds at the elite level of the sport,yes i can see why you would consider netball a threat but while our crowds at the lightning have been stable the netball crowds have been in decline,dont forget it was only a couple of years ago that netball had 2 teams playing at that level and both teams drew higher crowds then compared to what only one team does now

dont be fooled about the crowds at thunderbird games,only sell out they had last season was against the swifts.interestingly all tbird games are played on friday nights so that they dont class with the regular state league comp yet they still only manage to get about 1500 there,when you look at the number of kids playing netball against those playing basketball this isnt a good turn out,maybe in proportion to what the lightning draw to home games.it would be interesting to see the percentages of registered junior players against attendance figures ,probably find that basketball would come out in front

interesting to see where they play the games.etsa park only holds 3200 and i think they are looking at far bigger crowds than that,the dome or the ent. centre probably get the gig.would be a laugh if the dome got the netball when the lightning are looking at the netball stadium to play their games!!

I hope not because the NBL should stay "AUSTRALIAN".