With Brisbane securing the 2032 Summer Olympics, netball players across Australia are calling for the sport to be included in the Games.
Netball is an international sport that has over 20 million players in the world, yet it has never been seen at the Summer Games.
In Australia, there are over half a million people who play netball, making it one of the most popular organised sports in the country, beating out disciplines such as field hockey, basketball and gymnastics, all of which are included in the Summer Olympics.
Netball is the fourth most popular club sport in Australia. By removing non-Olympic disciplines, it becomes the third most popular club sport.
Participants of Club Sports in Australia
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Netball has a female participation rate of 5.2 per cent. Basketball, a current Olympic sport, has a similar participation rate of 5.3 per cent for its male participants.
The opposition of netball’s inclusion into the Summer Olympics suggest that the sport isn’t popular enough at an international level to be included in the Games. This is because netball is predominantly played by Commonwealth countries.
44 countries are a part of the International Netball Federation (INF), eight of which don’t belong to the Commonwealth.
INF Teams and Rankings
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A netball tournament only requires 16 teams to compete, meaning there are a plethora of countries eligible to compete in the Games.
Despite becoming a recognised Olympic sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1995, Netball has never been played at any Summer Olympics.
Many Australians are calling for the IOC to include Netball in upcoming Olympics since the announcement of Brisbane securing the 2032 Summer Games.
Brisbane would be an excellent host of the sport as the Australian team currently dominates the INF competition, being currently ranked number one in the world.
Gender is another issue that questions Netball’s eligibility into the Olympic Games, as it is predominately played by women. This doesn’t mean that men can’t play the sport. In Australia, there are many men’s and mixed netball leagues across the country.
The Australian International Men’s and Mixed Netball Association was formed in 2001 and held its first championship in 2002. In 2004, Australia, Fiji, the Cook Islands and New Zealand formed the International Men’s and Mixed Netball Association.
Since 2017, men’s adult netball participation numbers in Australia have increased by 52 per cent.
Netball Participation over the Years
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The sport is becoming increasingly popular in both men and women throughout Australia, making the Australian bid for Netball to be included in the 2032 Brisbane Summer Olympics significantly strong.
(Featured Image: “AUSTRALIA AND ENGLAND NETBALL TEAMS” by NAPARAZZI is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
