Elite Domestic Competitions
Nationwide netball competitions emerged in different countries in the first half of the twentieth century, starting from the 1920s. These were primarily contested between local-level clubs or regions/states. Elite domestic competitions did not emerge until the late twentieth century. These competitions have usually involved franchises rather than club or representative teams, and have focused on gaining a larger profile for the sport, as well as attracting greater sponsorship, investment and media coverage.
The Commonwealth Bank Trophy (CBT) was the first elite domestic competition in Australia, starting in 1997. It succeeded the Mobil League, which was still a state-representative club-based competition. The Commonwealth Bank Trophy was televised on ABC Sport, although coverage was usually limited to a few live games and a weekly highlights series. The competition lasted for eleven years, playing its final season in 2007, after which it was replaced by the ANZ Championship.
New Zealand introduced its first elite domestic competition in 1998, when the previous Coca-Cola Cup, a nationwide domestic competition contested between regional-representative teams, was reorganised into a franchise-based competition, with each franchise incorporating one or more New Zealand regions. After four years, the competition became known as the National Bank Cup (NBC). Unlike its counterpart in Australia, the National Bank Cup received wide media coverage in New Zealand. During this time, netball achieved a higher profile in New Zealand than in Australia. The NBC played its last season in 2007, after which it was replaced by the ANZ Championship.
Britain introduced the Netball Superleague in 2005. It replaced the previous Fisher & Paykel Super Cup, which started in England in 2001, and was established to improve performances on the domestic and international stages. The Superleague started with eight teams, seven from England and one from Wales; a Scottish team was added for the 2008–09 season. Sky Sports began televising the competition in 2006, attracting an overall netball viewing audience of 2.5 million people after its first year, and coinciding with a 6% increase in netball participation at grassroots level in England.
The Commonwealth Bank Trophy in Australia and the National Bank Cup in New Zealand played their last seasons in 2007. Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand convened to replace them with a joint domestic competition to start in 2008, contested between domestic franchises from both nations: the competition became known as the ANZ Championship. For the first time, all matches were telecast live in both countries. Player salaries were increased to a point where the sport is now semi-professional in both countries, with the expectation that the sport will eventually become fully professional.
Read more about this topic: History Of Netball
Famous quotes containing the words elite and/or domestic:
“Much of what passes for quality on British television is no more than a reflection of the narrow elite which controls it and has always thought that its tastes were synonymous with quality.”
—Rupert Murdoch (b. 1931)
“Mighty few young black women are doin’ domestic work. And I’m glad. That’s why I want my kids to go to school. This one lady told me, “All you people are gettin’ like that.” I said, “I’m glad.” There’s no more gettin’ on their knees.”
—Maggie Holmes, African American domestic worker. As quoted in Working, book 3, by Studs Terkel (1973)