Present Status and Future
The IFNA reports that over 20 million people currently play netball in more than 80 countries, with 74 national netball associations affiliated with the worldwide governing body. It is the most popular team sport for women in Australia and New Zealand, and remains a popular women's sport throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, including in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Jamaica. Television coverage has increased the profile of the sport in countries with elite domestic competitions, but in many cases not to the extent of well-established male-dominated sports. Netball has also yet to reach the status of a fully professional sport in any country.
Further developments to the sport are being trialled. A new shortened version of the sport was announced by the INF in December 2008, which was called "fastnet" (now "Fast5". Featuring six-minute playing quarters, long-distance shots worth multiple points, and "power plays" in which goals count for double points, the new version of the sport has been likened to cricket's Twenty20. The format is primarily used in the World Netball Series, which was first contested in October 2009 and is held annually. This new competition has been contested between the top six netballing nations, according to the INF World Rankings.
Major international competitions in the immediate future include the 2013 World Youth Netball Championships and the 2014 Commonwealth Games, both held in Glasgow. Fast5 tournaments have emerged in several countries following the introduction of the World Netball Series in 2009. Efforts were also started in England in 2008 advocating netball's inclusion in the Summer Olympic Games programme, either as a demonstration sport or as a fully competitive sport in future Games.
Read more about this topic: History Of Netball
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