‘National netball needs restructuring’ – Harry

Former president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association Godfrey Harry is contending that “netball is at the crossroad”, hence there is a need for some restructuring of the national club tournament.

His proposal is against the current set-up, which he thinks is counter-productive to St Vincent and the Grenadines’ netball.

“What we are having as a national tournament is about quantity instead of quality… To be honest, what we are seeing is not netball, but catchings,” Harry said unreservedly.

“Therefore, I think that [it should be] a 28-team tournament – eight in Division One, eight in Division Two and 16 in Division Three,” he added.

Harry lauded the efforts of the current executive to merge the Division One and Two for this year’s tournament, but wants to see some other measures taken to firm up the configuration.

“I am proposing that the eight teams that are currently in Division One – Maple, Mitres, ASCO, X- Ceed, Star Girls, Clinchers, Nar Fren Dem and Hill View be permanent and there should be no relegation… As it stands now, there are only three serious Division Two teams,” Harry opined.

Harry also said that many of the teams contain persons who are simply participating in the tournament for sweat and are not seriously engaging in the development of the sport.

In getting the quota in Division Two, Harry proffered: “…Those other five teams which want to enter the division must apply in writing to the association… They will be assessed by a technical committee before they are granted participation”.

According to Harry, Division Three will be a two-tier system, with six teams emerging as feeder outfits from Division One and Two teams, with the other six from schools.

Mapping out the playing days for the national tournament, Harry has identified Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

“In addition to the national tournament, there should be a league system, which will run concurrent, with teams selected from the area competitions held in Layou, Barrouallie, South Leeward, North Leeward, Marriaqua, Dauphine, North Windward and Sion Hill, divided into two groups on a home and away format, with semi-finals and finals,” proposed Harry, who is also the St Vincent and the Grenadines U-23 coach.

Harry also echoed the call made by president of the SVGNA Doris Mc Intosh for many of the teams to play in the area competitions and not clog up the national tournament.

The former netball head holds the view that his proposals are workable; however, the present keepers of the sport must be willing to bite the bullet by making the necessary changes to the format of the national tournament.

The 2017 National Netball Tournament comprises Division One, Division Two, Division Three and Division Four.

The 2017 FLOW National Club Tournament was set to conclude last evening at the Kingstown Netball Centre, with the finals of the knockout competition in Division One and the presentation and closing ceremony.