Netball Association of Malawi (Nam) has, through its committee, inspected 12 courts countrywide in readiness for the inaugural FDH Bank Premier Netball League.
The competition’s committee conducted the exercise two weeks ago as they also plan to introduce gate charges.
FDH Premier Netball Committee General Secretary Tadala Billie confirmed inspecting 12 courts, saying successful ones would be certified fit before league action starts.
“The league follows a home-and-away format; as such, we inspected 12 courts that the teams provided as home grounds. We wanted to make sure that they are fit for elite league action,” she said.
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Billie said during the inspection, they considered five key factors to determine if the courts were fit to host elite matches.
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“The committee was assessing court surface, dimensions, possibility of spectators paying, change/rest rooms and goalposts and ring size,” she said.
Billie said the committee would release results soon to enable stakeholders to plan.
“We will communicate the results soon as we are still considering some aspects, more especially on making sure that players are safe and that spectators should pay,” she said.
Billie said plans to introduce gate charges were underway as the committee has engaged stakeholders.
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“In terms of payment for the matches, we are considering e-ticketing and we have established rapport with TNM, hoping it will materialise,” she said.
Retired netball Neffie Kam’mata welcomed the exercise with revelations.
“It is important to inspect the courts to be sure of their state. Since this is the first time for this competition, the committee needs to put everything in place.
“While it is possible to charge at the gates, with proper awareness campaign, as we saw during other tournaments like the Tri-Nation, most of our infrastructure does not allow gate charges. There is a need for proper arenas, where entry can easily be supervised,” Kam’mata said.
The inaugural winners of the FDH Bank Premier Netball League will get K13 million, with the runners-up pocketing K10 million.
Recently, Nam announced that the third-place side would receive K8 million whereas each participating side will get a similar amount for subvention.
So far, K140 million, which is about 47 percent of the annual package, has been allocated to cater for prizes, subvention and awards.
Last month, Nam unveiled a four-year sponsorship package from FDH Bank worth K1.2 billion, split into K300 million annually.
Currently, the competition’s committee has allocated K80 million to cater for the launch, equipment and other things whereas officiation and safety and security have been assigned K49 million.
Recently, the competition’s playoffs were held in Lilongwe, where Mafco, Pacers, Vanessa and Lioness joined pre-qualified sides.
Eight teams were seeded from the playoffs due to their last season’s performance.
The eight sides include Blue Eagles, Civil Netball Club (Civonets), Ekwendeni Resources, Karonga Queens, Kukoma Diamonds, Tigresses, Prison Queens and Airforce Falcons.
