The Netball ACT Board has voted to formally affiliate ACT Men’s and Mixed Netball as a Member Association of Netball ACT.
The 2020 Netball Australia State of the Game review stated that almost 80,000 men currently play netball across Australia and it saw 28% growth between 2016-2019. The report went on to say that there is an opportunity to bring these male participants into the sport and widen its opportunities for growth in all roles including as fans of the women’s game.
The latest SportAUS participation data shows that male participants account for 9.8% of total participants and 12.7% of adults.
Netball ACT CEO, Matthew Battams is excited to formally welcome ACT Men’s and Mixed Netball to the Netball ACT family.
“Netball ACT has welcomed male participation in our sport for a number of years via mixed social competitions and for the past four years has included a Men’s Division in the HCF State League. However, this recent decision by the Board of Netball ACT will significantly enhance the support that can be offered”.
ACT Men’s and Mixed Netball President, Patrick Cronin is equally excited about the formal recognition.
“Men’s participation has been growing rapidly in the ACT in recent years and we are very excited to be formally partnering with Netball ACT to continue to grow the successful program that we have been building since 2016”.
“We have been lucky to have the support of Netball ACT since our Association re-emerged in 2016, but this formal affiliation will mean our Association can continue to grow in line with the strategic goals of the entire netball community across Canberra. This will ensure that we give men and boys an opportunity to play netball at an elite level.”
“This is an important step in boosting opportunities for Canberrans to participate in this exciting game”, he said.
Netball ACT President, Sue Scanlan believes that this is a natural next step in the evolution of our sport in the ACT.
“This formal recognition will allow further development of male players, coaches and umpires and will assist in the delivery of greater grassroots participation products for boys, men and mixed teams”.
The fourth round of the HCF State League Men’s Division will be played at 7.30pm on Friday night at the SolarHub ACT Netball Centre at Lyneham. Match of the round will be between South Canberra and Canberra, currently placed 3rdand 4th on the ladder respectively.
