Despite netball’s origins dating back over 100 years and being played by over 20 million people across 80 countries, professional netball has historically struggled to attract the mainstream viewership seen in other sports. For the fans and players, there was a sense that the game was being underrated, underappreciated, and misunderstood.
Common misconceptions have included that netball was unexciting because it is a 'non-contact' sport or that it was a slow-paced version of basketball. These perspectives don't even begin to scratch the surface of what netball is – a rapidly changing game of possession and pace that you can miss in the blink of an eye if you're not paying full attention to the quick-fire action happening on-court.
There may be no slide-tackles involved, but collisions, cuts, and scrapes are inevitable when the competitors get caught up in the match's momentum. To suggest that netball is boring is no truer than saying football is overrated.
Growing Popularity
Fortunately, after a long wait, netball has been experiencing a much overdue surge in popularity in recent years. One of the main reasons for the sport's sudden growth is audience exposure to netball through flagship events like the Commonwealth Games and Netball World Cup (NWC). Each competition brings together the top teams and the most elite competitors. In 2019, 16 nations took part in the NWC and the event was broadcast worldwide to millions of viewers.
The growth in popularity has been particularly noticeable in Commonwealth nations where netball is most commonly played. In countries like Australia and New Zealand, netball is the most popular female team sport with an estimated 1.5 million competitive and amateur players across both nations.
There has also been a popularity boom in the UK, surging since England's Commonwealth gold victory in 2018. Riding on their success from the previous year, England went on to win bronze at the Vitality NWC in 2019, hosted on home turf. A record-breaking number of tickets were purchased for the event, with every single England game completely sold out. Moreover, a jaw-dropping 6 million Brits said that they followed or attended the NWC. Since then, the sport has enjoyed increased interest and growing participation numbers.
Netball is also becoming an increasingly popular women's sport in parts of Africa. In fact, several African nations are ranked within the top 25 netball national leagues in the world.
We hope that netball continues to spread its influence around the world and gather more momentum and a growing fanbase.
Netball World Cup 2023
With 2 years to go until the NWC 2023, the sport's highly anticipated dates were announced on Tuesday this week. The NWC is heading to Cape Town, South Africa, from 17 July to 8 August 2023 and will consist of 16 nations battling it out for supremacy. The events will occur over 10 days, showcasing a total of 60 matches.
@@media-4@@
Follow the sport on Koobit to keep up with all the latest developments for the Netball World Cup.