By Ashleigh Leck
Some of us may know the experience of waking up in the middle of the night to watch a sporting game played in the other side of the world. Well, from the 12th- 21st of July this was the story for all Netball fans. Through this article, the defining moments of the Netball World Cup in Liverpool will be explored and what the Netball World cup projects for-word to change.
South Africa beat Jamaica by 3 goals in the early rounds
Arguably one of the biggest deciding moment of the Netball World Cup was when South Africa beat Jamaica for the first time in the World cup since 1995. This match shattered the dreams of finals for the sunshine girls who were placed in the toughest match pool.
New Zealand and England face off with an almost surprising win for New Zealand
New Zealand have been off the netball radar since their 4th place finish in the 2018 commonwealth games, but the magic of Noeline Taurua was showcased in a 2-goal win over England, the tournament favourites, during the semi-final.
New Zealand beat Australia by 1 in thrilling Grand Final
The good Trans-Tasman rivalry was highlighted in this unpredictable gold medal match-up. The underdogs being New Zealand, really had nothing to lose and the timidness of the Australian’s ultimately lost them the match. Potentially the last world cup for the likes of Laura Langman, Katrina Rore and Maria Folau, experience really shone through with Australia lacking much of this due to the selection choice of form over international experience.
Norma Plummer and Tracey Neville retire from International netball coaching
Truly a sad and pivotal moment to end the world cup high on. These 2 highly experienced coaches have brought so much to the elite game, England’s gold medal at the commonwealth games and Norma Plummer bringing South Africa back into contention with the top teams, it will be highly interesting to see how the retirement of these 2 beloved head coaches effects international netball in the future.
Clearly it has been one of the tightest fought netball competitions amongst the top 5 INF ranked teams, but the rest of the teams were no real competition to these teams who dominated the first few rounds of the tournament. Growing rivals, England and Australia never even got to play each other. Does this call for a change in the World Cup format to allow more growth in the sport? Or should this stay so the developing teams can still compare themselves to the likes of England and Australia?