THE IRISH NETBALL team are set to compete in the Nations Cup in Singapore this week, with the competition due to get underway this Sunday.
The event is the only major tournament involving countries from around the world in the sport aside from the World Cup, with the Irish team serving as Europe’s representatives.
It is the second successive year that Ireland are competing at the week-long event, and the side are set to face champions and hosts, Singapore, in addition to Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Uganda and the United States of America, from 1 December onwards.
Liz Allan of the Netball Ireland Committee says the team are optimistic that they can improve on last year’s performance, whereby they failed to win a game. Nevertheless, Ireland will have to fight for each victory, as they are the lowest-ranked team competing apart from Uganda (who have no ranking due to lack of experience).
“We were playing teams that were significantly higher than our own position last year,” she tells TheScore.ie. “This year, although we’re playing some teams that are in a higher ranking position than us, we also have an opportunity to play some teams that we’re ranked closer towards and we would expect to be winning those matches.
“Winning will help us to achieve our aim of climbing up the world ranking table and increasing the profile of netball within Ireland.”
The aim of the team at the very least is to finish fifth overall (out of six teams), and ideally to pick up “a number of victories”. Doing so would provide concrete evidence to outsiders that they have developed from last year.
“The team are really prepared,” Allan adds. “They’ve been working towards the tournament for the past year. They’re very focused.”
The sport, which started off in the Republic of Ireland in the 1960s, has suffered in recent years — a problem Allan puts down to “competition” from alternative sports, among other issues.
However, she hopes participation in high-profile tournaments, such as the Nations Cup, will help raise awareness of the sport in this country. Moreover, Netball Ireland remains a voluntary organisation, who aren’t formally recognised by the Irish Sports Council for a number of reasons, including lack of global coverage. Nevertheless, they are currently seeking funding, as such cash injections would be enormously beneficial to their cause.
“We have a sponsor for our playing kit and our training kit and that money allows us to enter these tournaments,” Allan explains. “If we were to secure this money by government means or lottery grants, we would be allowed to have a person working for us full time [to help promote the sport]. We have volunteers at the moment to do the work that we need to do. We find it difficult to find the continuity needed for getting the work done, as we just don’t have that full-time representation.
“Having someone working for the association, such as a CEO, puts a bit of structure behind where we’re going — it’s about having a strategy and having that continuity.”
(Image credit: Netball Ireland)
Lately, there has been substantial effort towards recruiting new members. The association have club teams operating in Dublin and Cork, with a league having been in place for many years, while a drive to attract children to the sport is proving to be a success.
“We have relatively small participation numbers in Ireland. And we’re trying to improve that by reintroducing netball back into schools. It started off in the Dublin area so it’s going to move to Cork next.
“We’ve had a good response from teachers. We’re offering free coaching in schools and it seems to be going down very well.”
And the headway being made at grassroots level is ostensibly being emulated by the Irish side on the international stage.
The team emerged unbeaten in their division at the 2013 Netball Europe Open Championships, which took place in Scotland at the end of May, and will be hopeful that they can build on that success throughout the next week.
“They have had successes in European tournaments, where Ireland have repeatedly beaten all of the opposition they’ve played against. That includes Israel, Switzerland, Malta and Gibraltar — and that’s been the case for the past couple of years.
“We have been promoted within the European Championship set up, so we’ll now be playing against Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. So that gives the team confidence that they have improved. So we just have to play these matches now to find out how much of an improvement we’ve made.”
The upcoming event will also serve as vital preparation for the all-important World Cup qualifiers next May. The Irish team will be competing against the likes of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, with the top two sides subsequently earning a place at the sport’s most illustrious competition, which will take place in the summer of 2015 in Australia.
However, for now, they are focusing on the task at hand.
“Singapore, as the host nation, would be hoping to win, but that’s a difficult one [to predict] and it’s not a given. There are a few countries, such as Uganda, who are unknown in terms of their abilities.
“I would be delighted if we come away with more than one victory. It would be great if we could come away with all victories, but I don’t think that’s going to happen, because it’s a five-day competition where you’ve got matches all the time and scorelines can be quite tight sometimes.
“The European netball body want to improve from last year’s position. The European federation will be happy if we come fifth or higher [which would likely require just one win]. That will demonstrate that we’ve made the improvements that they want to see to up the profile of the sport in Europe.”
Details on how to help fund the team can be found here.
Follow the side on Twitter at @NetballIreland or by liking their Facebook page
You can also find out more information about the Nations Cup here.
Fennessy? Bigger picture next time please!
If ye are so interested in the photographic arts, how about going to their website? Later when your wives ask you what the heck is that website doing in your browser history, make sure to tell them you read it for the articles.
Speaking from experience are we?
Emilio have you not heard of the incognito tab on Google Chrome
Browser history? hahaha, amateur.
What’s with the redthumbing lads? Don’t you get a joke? Oh well, enjoy your Friday.
Is it possible to feel dirty and proud at the same time?
I’d say 99.9% of people that clicked on this article have no interest in Netball ;-)
99.9% of us were so busy checking them out, we didn’t notice they’re actually playing basketball.
Are they looking for a water boy !!!
Good luck Ireland! COYGIG
Its great to see the Irish Netball team doing us all so proud, and so sad to see all of the sexist commenters undermine them.
If men want to make comments “amongst themselves” that’s their own business, but this is a public forum about a sports team and their comments are patronising.
@King Olaf – No need to be so harsh with the cave remark dude. Commenting on the Journal is not the same thing as commenting amongst themselves.
I read the comments about an hour ago and it looks like some of the nastier ones making references to masturbation have been removed already and rightly so.
As a man, seeing roughly 50% of the comments focusing on the players’ looks instead of their achievements, I felt a little embarrassed. And I couldn’t help thinking of the negative message they collectively sent to numerous teenage boys and girls reading about this.
If you can’t see the difference between a genuine compliment and sexism then you’re better off moving back to Viking era Dublin where you will fit in much better I think.
Keep polishing that white knight armour Kevin, someday it will be of some of use to you.
You can feel embarrassed all you like but reason why this article has so many views is because men like to look at attractive people. There is no point hiding from that and all someone like yourself does is agree with the feminising of males.
Commenting on the internet is exactly the same as any other public place. If I am sitting in the pub with my mates and an attractive person is on telly, we will talk about it, some being more respectful than others but my point is if you are at another table you can hear it if you want to. Just like on the internet you will take offense if you want to.
Believe what you want to Olaf but commenting in a pub where your own friends and a handful of other people might hear you is not the same thing as commenting on an article read by thousands of people. Your argument is ridiculous and I would like to think it is stubbornness rather than stupidity that drives you to restate it. But feel free to pick one.
If I heard these comments in a pub I wouldn’t care because they’d have little or no impact. I took the time to comment here today so I could draw attention to an attitude that some people see as a harmless bit of craic but that I believe reinforces gender inequality. The context of the comments, an article read by thousands of people (not a pub conversation, since you have trouble telling one from the other) is key to this. I know I keep repeating this point but you seem incapable of grasping it so I have to throw it in as many times as possible in the hope that it will break through the thick layer of testosterone that protects your brain information or opinions that may feminise you.
I believe the sexualized comments on this article contribute to a culture where women are valued first and foremost for their looks and men for their achievements. The flip side of this is intelligent, hard-working women being dismissed or devalued if they are unattractive.
If you don’t see sense in anything I’ve said here then we’ll have to leave it at that.
My point is based upon logical observations. You are choosing to be offended by what you read here. There is nothing more to it than that. I agree if someone earlier had started talking about masturbation it probably was taking it a bit too far but other than that everything written here is positive and complimentary towards the women in the article.
There is no such thing as gender inequality for women (I emphasise women) in modern society today. There would be no issue if the photos showed a rugby team or GAA and there were women making sexual and complimentary remarks on the men featured in them. Look up previous journal articles for evidence if you wish.
So in essence you support “extra” equality for woman (for your own devices no doubt) and are highly critical about males in similar situations. I don’t see very much sense in what you have said, all I see is a brainwashed sad excuse for a man. You don’t seem to understand that men and women being equal does not mean that they have to be the same. It is a pity because aside from that you seem like a fairly intelligent chap. Next time you try debate, leave out the catty remarks and you will be doing well.
Ok I won’t make catty remarks but continue to insult me as much as you like. That sounds fair coming from someone who doesn’t think gender inequality exists anymore.
Things have definitely improved for women in our society, I won’t argue with that but to say inequality doesn’t exist anymore is a fantasy you are relying on so you can hold onto your opinions. Women still get paid less for the same jobs as men and in this country are still not allowed to decide whether they have a baby or not because a male dominated church says it is immoral. Inequality of race, gender and class is bouyed up by jokey comments that seem harmless on the surface.
Women do make sexual comments about male players. That is true. But that is following centuries of positive reinforcement of males based on their skills. Men making sexual comments about female sports people do so against a background of inequality and centuries of subjugation of women. So the action seems similar but the context is very different.
Surprised there isn’t more support for Netball at a national level, we have many schools playing it. It’s a great game.
Because it’s boring as fook.
I didn’t know we had a team competing at that level. Good luck to the team. It must be difficult to get recognition and sponsorship without publicity so well done to the score.
Coygig. So proud.
“Champions and hosts Singapore”!? Singapore came 2nd from the bottom last year, they sacked their coach over it lol. I was at the Singapore v Ireland game, going again this year… Come on Ireland!
Good luck to Fiona and all the girls on the team :)