INF anxious about pandemic
Published:Thursday | May 14, 2020 | 12:16 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
International Netball Federation (INF) president Liz Nicholl is concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the sport.
A number of netball leagues around the world, including Suncorp Super Netball in Australia, the ANZ Premiership in New Zealand and the Vitality Netball Superleague in the United Kingdom, which all feature Jamaicans, have been postponed by the outbreak.
The start of Jamaica’s Berger Elite League has also been postponed as the Government tries to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Nicholl told The Gleaner that the pandemic has also significantly affected sponsorship.
“There are significant impacts and big disappointments not only because of players not being able to have the opportunity to play the sport that they love, but the spectators and fans are missing out, so it is something that we are hoping will come to an end soon,” she said.
“It is similar across every sport. The competitions have been halted because of the virus, and it does have a significant impact on sponsors, broadcasters, and each nation has to see what’s possible in terms of when that league can return.”
SIGNIFICANCE OF CLUB LEAGUES
Nicholl said that the club leagues around the world are very important to the development of the sport, and she is hoping that these competitions will restart as soon as the virus is contained.
“The super leagues are incredibly important to the development of our athletes and for our sport because the more you play, the better you get,” she said.
“It has been the top priority for those nations to get those leagues back and running and soon as they possibly can, but of course they have to wait for their own governments’ guidelines to enable that to happen.
“However, we have to plan carefully for a safe return to netball because the last thing we want to do is to put our players and officials at risk or to create another spike in the virus.”
Nicholl, a Welsh former netballer, took the role of INF president from Jamaican Molly Rhone at the INF Congress in Liverpool, England, in June 2019.
There have been over 4.3 million confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus virus and 295,000 deaths worldwide.