Netball biff killing game

Adine Wilson speaks out

Sunday News Front Page, May 10

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FERNS legend Adine Wilson is warning the increasing physical and violent nature of this year's ANZ Championship is ruining the game.

Former Silver Ferns captain and World Championship winner Adine Wilson says the "bring back the biff" mentality is starting to detract from the skill and finesse usually associated with the game.

"For a non-contact sport there is a lot of contact going on and what worries me is that potentially the skills of netball will be lost," Wilson told Sunday News last night.

"We're not getting to see the type of play we used to because there is so much contact going on.

"We're at a critical point in netball. Something really needs to be done about it because we don't want it to spiral out of control."

So far this year, contact and obstruction statistics have been through the roof and deliberate offsides and professional fouls have increased to the point where umpires have been advancing penalties on a regular basis.

"I think there is room for aggression. There's no doubt about that but where do you draw the line?" she said. "I'm particularly worried about the professional fouls, where players are purposely going offside to slow the ball down and going for the ball when they know they won't actually get it."

Earlier this season Swifts captain Catherine Cox told Sunday News she was disgusted with the deliberate foul play of the Adelaide Thunderbirds when her side lost to them in Adelaide and that she was looking forward to playing the Magic who she thought was one of the cleanest sides in the competition.

But Wilson says it is not a problem exclusive to the Australian teams.

"I don't think it's any particular person, country or team," she said. "I think, in general, that's the way the game is progressing and everyone is doing the same thing. I just love being able to see that skill and open style of play and I'm concerned that is getting lost among all the contact."

A carding system has been talked about as a possible solution with yellow cards for continual offences and players sinbinned for up to 10 minutes, with a red card for serious repeat offenders.

It's a system that Wilson says could work if done properly.

"The rules around it would have to be really clear and they would have to be enforced consistently. I think there would have to be a lot of work done on it but potentially that kind of system could tidy up the game," she said.

The 29-year-old also admits the other big issue in the ANZ Championship is Australia's domination of the competition especially after the Steel's last result, a 17-goal loss to the table-topping Vixens two weeks ago.

"There's no hiding from the fact the Australians are definitely setting the benchmark," she said. "As Kiwis, we hate that but we need to make sure as New Zealand teams as a whole that we compete and start getting the wins so that they start getting scared of us.

"Unfortunately, I don't have the magic solution as to how we do that but we have to break that hoodoo and I know that will happen this season. I have full confidence a New Zealand team will win in Australia this year."

Wilson believes New Zealand teams need to look at the momentum swing that happened in international netball in the late 90s.

Australia dominated the Silver Ferns to the point where 20-point hidings were regular occurrences but New Zealand slowly worked their way back and reversed the situation to the point where the hidings were coming from them.

They won the World Championships in 2003 and claimed gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2006.

"I remember sitting on the sideline in about 1998 with the Ferns against Australia and we had a win for the first time in such a long time," she said.

"From there momentum slowly swung back New Zealand's way and I'm hoping the same thing can happen in the ANZ Championship. For that to happen, we have to grind out some of those wins."

- © Fairfax NZ News