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Fast5 Netball World Series
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023 Fast5 Netball World Series
SportFast5 netball
First season2009
No. of teams6
Most recent
champion(s)		 Australia
Most titles New Zealand (7 titles)
TV partner(s)Australia Seven Network
New Zealand Sky Sport
England Sky Sports

The Fast5 Netball World Series is an annual international Fast5 netball competition that was contested for the first time in October 2009. The new competition features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens.[1][2] The competition is contested by the six top national netball teams in the world, according to the INF World Rankings.[3]

Background

Before 2008, the major competitions in international netball were the quadrennial Netball World Championships (renamed Netball World Cup in 2015) and the netball event of the quadrennial Commonwealth Games. First-tier national teams also participated in yearly test series, with others playing in regional events. However, several significant changes in international netball occurred in 2008. Changes to international test rules were finalised at a World Netball (WN) congress in Auckland in 2007, and progressively rolled out across netball-playing countries the following year.[4] WN also introduced a new world rankings system to compare the performances of national teams.[5] In England, a campaign was started advocating netball's inclusion in the Olympic Games, as a demonstration sport in 2012 and potentially as a competitive sport from 2016.[6] In the Southern Hemisphere, the sport attained semi-professional status in Australia and New Zealand with the introduction of the ANZ Championship.[7][8]

Also, in December 2008 a new international netball competition was announced, the World Netball Series, to be contested in 2009 under modified rules.[1] The new rules had been trialed by England junior and senior squads over a 12-month period.[9] DVDs were sent to coaches of the participating teams for consultation. Some of the new rules were announced in December 2008, including six-minute playing quarters and power plays;[1][10] others were announced in February 2009.[9]

Prior to the 2012 edition the rules were revamped and renamed Fast5.[11]

Format

The competition is held over two days, and is played under Fast5 rules. Each team plays each other once during the first two days in a round-robin format. The four highest-scoring teams from this stage progress to the finals, played on the final day of competition, in which the 1st-ranked team plays the 4th-ranked team, while 2nd plays 3rd. The winners of these two matches contest the Grand Final; the remaining teams contest the third- and fifth-place playoffs.[12]

Venues

The first three editions of the tournament were held in England. Initially, Manchester was to host all three seasons in England at the MEN Arena. The venue is the largest indoor arena in Europe, capable of seating around 20,000 spectators.[13] However, the 2010 tournament was held in Liverpool at the Echo Arena, as was the 2011 tournament.

Results

Year Host Final 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Winner Final Score Runner-up
2009 England
Manchester 		 New Zealand 32-27  Jamaica  Australia  England  Malawi  Samoa
2010 England
Liverpool 		 New Zealand 28-26  England  Jamaica  Australia  Malawi  South Africa
2011 England
Liverpool 		 England 33-26  New Zealand  Australia  Jamaica  South Africa  Fiji
2012 New Zealand
Auckland 		 New Zealand 23-21  England  South Africa  Jamaica  Malawi  Australia
2013 New Zealand
Auckland 		 New Zealand 56-27  Australia  Jamaica  South Africa  Malawi  England
2014 New Zealand
Auckland 		 New Zealand 35-31  Australia  England  Jamaica  South Africa  Malawi
2016 Australia
Melbourne 		 New Zealand 41-16  Australia  Malawi  England  Jamaica  South Africa
2017 Australia
Melbourne 		 England 34-29  Jamaica  Australia  New Zealand  South Africa  Malawi
2018 Australia
Melbourne 		 New Zealand 34-33  Jamaica  Australia  Malawi  England  South Africa
2022 New Zealand
Christchurch 		 Australia 34-20  South Africa  New Zealand  England  Uganda  Jamaica
2023 New Zealand
Christchurch 		 Australia[14] 35-23[14]  New Zealand  England  South Africa  Jamaica  Malawi

Organisation

The World Netball Series is organised by a local organizing committee and overseen by World Netball, in conjunction with the national governing bodies of the six competing nations each year.

Reception

Australian coach Norma Plummer greeted the new tournament positively: "If you want your sport to keep growing these days, it's got to become up with the times and keep having innovations that make the game exciting for not only the players, but all the spectators."[15] But Plummer also expressed some reservations about power plays being used against substantially weaker teams, and also about penalty shootouts and the new centre pass rule.[16]

Netball New Zealand (NNZ) Chief Executive Raelene Castle stated that she was "excited about what the new competition could bring to the ever-increasing profile of Netball internationally".[17] However, Castle also acknowledged that the shortened version of the game "may not be for everyone". New Zealand netball and basketball player Donna Wilkins also stated her concerns about the sport becoming too similar to basketball.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c Newstalk ZB (2 December 2008). "Innovative World Series planned for next year". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  2. ^ Marshall, Jane (5 February 2009). "Kiwis keen on novel netball variant". The Press. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  3. ^ "Samoa prepares for World netball series". Samoa Observer. 18 December 2008. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  4. ^ ONE Sport (New Zealand) (27 February 2008). "Rule changes set to impact". TVNZ. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  5. ^ "IFNA: World Rankings". Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
  6. ^ "Netball targeting Olympic status". BBC. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  7. ^ Australian Associated Press (9 October 2007). "Professional era coming soon: Ellis". The Age. Retrieved 3 April 2008.
  8. ^ Johannsen, Dana (29 March 2008). "Glitz and hype turn netball into money game". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
  9. ^ a b Johannsen, Dana (5 February 2009). "Innovations sure to raise eyebrows". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  10. ^ "Malawi Queens to play in Manchester, World Series". Nyasa Times. 2 December 2008. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  11. ^ Expect the unexpected at the Fast5 nz.sports.yahoo.com, 8 November 2012
  12. ^ "Calling All Netball Fans!". IFNA. 3 April 2009. Archived from the original on 14 March 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2009.
  13. ^ "MEN Arena: History". Archived from the original on 19 April 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  14. ^ a b "Australia win second straight FAST5 Netball World Series title". International Netball Federation. Archived from the original on 27 November 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  15. ^ Williams, Rebecca (5 February 2009). "Game to be shortened". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  16. ^ Warren, Adrian (1 December 2008). "Netball to try short game format". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  17. ^ "Silver Ferns to take part in World Netball Series". Netball New Zealand. 5 February 2009. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  18. ^ Miles, Penny (19 March 2009). "Netball changes opposed". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 23 March 2009.

External links

Fast5 Netball World Series
International netball competitions
Categories