Sponsorship key to South Africa hosting the Men’s Netball World Cup

Newly elected Netball South Africa (NSA) president, Mami Diale, says the federation will put their hand up to host the inaugural Men’s Netball World Cup in 2028.

World Netball (WN) announced their intention to launch the men’s edition of the global tournament in order to grow the sport. WN is continuing to build a case with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include the sport in the quadrennial Olympic Games and have it included in the Games.

South Africa became the first African country to host the Netball World Cup in 2023 and Diale hopes the success of the Cape Town edition will bring the competition to the country.

“The men’s World Cup will be hosted in 2028 and we are raising our hand to host it. We want to host that World Cup but for us to host it we need to have a men’s league happening,” said Diale.

She reckons that securing a title sponsor for the Men’s Senior Netball National Championships will go a long way in making sure that the game becomes stronger in South Africa. Currently South Africa has Men’s Senior Netball National Championships as the only main competition.

The Rea Bapala Males Netball Festival, a tournament that was launched in 2022 and featured total of 17 teams taking part was only hosted for two years. The Twizza Club Championship has also since disappeared. Diale reckons sponsorship will go a long way in aiding the growth of the men’s game.

“We definitely need a sponsor for the males. We need a title sponsor that will sponsor the males in terms of the championship and for us to start a league in preparation for the World Cup. We will start with a small super league while we are looking for a sponsor.

"We can probably start with four or six teams of high performance players that participate in the male’s championship,” she said.

Men’s netball in South Africa has been growing in popularity over the last few years. The senior team got to play outside of the continent for the first time in 2022 at Americas Netball Men's Championship in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Jabulani Vilane’s side have also won back to back Africa Netball Cup competitions. The men’s side have taken part in two FAST5 Netball World Series tournaments as well. SA men’s goal shooter, Shane Labuschagne, believes South Africa needs more competitions to strengthen the growth of the sport.

“I think there must be more tournaments included because we cannot only have one tournament. Everyone just prepares for one tournament for the year and then the squad is selected. We do need more tournaments, there are not as many opportunities for us as with the women with the TNL.

"They have lots of other tournaments as well. We need to grow on that in order to build for that World Cup that’s coming up,” said Labuschagne.

Diale was named the new president following the NSA elections in which she got majority of 69 out of 116. She was the favourite over Eastern Cape’s Nompumelelo Javu and Western Cape’s Annelie Lucas who used to hold the director of coaching position in the outgoing administration.

She was first elected as a board member in 2002, Diale served as director of demarcation and structures, and was later elected vice president in the 2021 election.

Following the suspension of Cecilia Molokwane by World Netball amid allegations of intimidation and “excessive use” of NSA resources related to the 2023 Netball World Cup. Diale stepped in and served as acting president from April this year.

“NSA’s council members have chosen the best executive ever. These are the people that have the knowledge and haven been there for netball. They are qualified to do what they will be expected to do.

"Our plan is to bring back the culture of netball, to rebuild and to restore netball. That is the most important thing and for us to do that, we need uniformity. We need to work together as a team. It is very important that when we start we have to do administrative capacity building, more especially on our own policies as well as the constitution,” said Diale.

The new executive committee

Mami Diale- President

Khosi Dlamini- Vice President

Lana Krige- Director: Selections

Dumisani Chauke- Director: Coaches

Claudine Classen- Director: Demarcations and Structures

Magriet Bester- Director: Umpires