How can netball overcome it’s perceived audience?

Netball has long been a sport which Australia as been at the forefront of in terms of coaching, development and success on court at international level.

It is a sport which has widespread popularity at the grass roots community level, yet has unfortunately failed in recent years to transfer this to the Commonwealth Bank Trophy and international games, although crowds in Sydney have been the bench mark for some time.

Unfortunately, there is also a stigma that netball is a sport played watched only by females. This is a stigma that needs to be overcome because it is a sport which is exciting to play and watch, regardless of whether it is males or females running around on a court somewhere in this great country of ours.

With the recent release of the book titled ‘Netball Heroes’ by Australian netball captain Liz Ellis this should hopefully dispel any myths held about a sport which was once called women’s basketball before changing it’s name to netball.

Hopefully, this book will help to deliver netball to a much wider audience than ever before. It should also help to break down barriers which had impeded the sport was developing further from what it was.

Whist Netball Australia do a good job in promoting and developing the game all over this great country of ours, not enough is done to promote it to a wider audience who are not traditionally associated with netball. This is males, who despite following the four codes of football that are played in this country, yet for some reason always think that netball is a sport played by females only.

This is not true and evidence can be found in Netball Heroes on pages 21-25 where Australian men’s player Heath Brown talks about the stereotypes and other issues that arose when he told other males that he has played the sport. One of the first things he mentions is if he has to wear a skirt it is something that shows a total ignorance towards the sport.

Sure, the game may be traditionally played by females but it can grow even more than what it has already if men open their eyes and support a sport that has bought Australians some memorable sporting moments in recent decades.

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