Transformations and changes are necessary

It is highly unkind to think that in 2024 the countries contesting the Eastern Caribbean Central

Bank (ECCB) International Invitational Netball Series, are still doing so simply for a trophy.

As such, when the fourth edition concluded on September 29, at the Beausejour Indoor Facility in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines collected the winner’s trophy. On return home, they were feted, given a mini motorcade, and will have the bragging rights as champions for the next eleven and a half months or so.

But is this sufficient for the amount of money expended during the preparation of the St Vincent and the Grenadines team, similarly the others? Apart from the preparation, the high cost of air travel and other attending financial implications would have indeed burdened the respective national Netball Associations that chose to attend the series.

Yes, the territories chose to attend the series, given that the matches would add to their eligibility quota for World Netball rankings.

Additionally, such tournaments are used as gauges for the territories’ developmental programmes and as good outings for the holistic advancements of their players.

Netball has to get with it, as incentivizing players, associations even make the product better, as there is a higher prize at stake for participation.

More so, the top teams, by virtue of the placings, should be able to recoup some of the expenses through the prize monies gained from their positions.

Will these individual territories that contest the Invitational Netball series continue to rely on the benevolence of their governments, the social consciences of the business entities, donors, and in the case of St Vincent and the Grenadines, the National Lotteries Authority?

Ironically, as this column comments on the anomalies that prevail at the wider regional scene, locally,

most of the community Netball competitions staged here have prize monies as part of the winnings.

That monetary recompense, complements the trophies, medals and other trinkets. If it happens at the community level, why is it not the same at the sub-regional level?

Yes, in the first instance, the countries that make up the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) that played in the then Under-23 tournament, which has since evolved into the current set up, would recognize that things have changed over the past 33 years, when the ECCB stepped in to facilitate those championships.

More than three decades, 1991 to be exact, when the Under-23 tournament started, the level of sponsorship has not been commensurate with the ever- changing economic landscape in the separate countries and as a collective.

Therefore, the time is ripe for a rethink and a recalibration of the long-standing commitment of the ECCB.

Hence, the Netball authorities will have to engage the hierarchy of the ECCB to have a re-look and the amount of sponsorship that is dished out at the ensuing editions of the International Invitational series.

At the heart of the new negotiations must be the introduction of prize monies, along with other memorabilia that will add to the profile and pedigree of the tournament.

Like everything in life, nothing is constant, so we have to begin to do away with the past whilst embracing the future, acknowledging that fresh approaches are always part and parcel of life.

We have seen what the professional leagues have done to the growth of Netball in places such as New Zealand, Australia and England, to name a few examples.

Likewise, in other team sports where the injection of money as extrinsic rewards, has taken the disciplines to new levels.

The keepers of Netball, despite the resistance to stay pure and promote goodwill, have to come to grips with the realities and begin to add monetary incentives to the upcoming editions of the International Invitational series, and 2025 should be the time to lift off.