ONE of the biggest netball leagues on the African continent will commence for the third edition this coming Friday, April 8.
“This time it will be brutal,” said Lauren-Lee Christians, vice captain of Crinums. “If we are on court we are playing to win, but off court we are the biggest friends. All teams will be out to win this year.”
The 2016 Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League, Africa’s largest semi-professional netball league, will no longer have two sections, but only one, making it more competitive.
“There is little or no difference between the teams any more,” said Spar Proteas player Bongi Msomi, who believes the expanded league is another positive step for the sport in South Africa.
“We need more game time here, and this is a positive step to achieving that. That’s what our players need. The English league is four to five months of really intense netball. I think we’re on the right track here and we just need to keep growing it.”
The tournament has proven hugely popular in the past and has assisted with the elevation of the standard of competition at provincial level.
This year’s tournament will be bigger and better than before, with matches played across three cities with all 10 teams competing in a single round-robin format, as opposed to the two-tier system of the past. The tournament will now take place over eight weekends as opposed to five weekends.
After Pretoria, the matches will move to Ellis Park Indoor Arena, Johannesburg. The Olive Convention Centre in Durban will host the last leg, ending on May 29. This is an important step towards achieving the brand’s key objectives of making the league the premier provincial league in South Africa.
“We are proud and excited about our third year as the founding sponsor of the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League. This sponsorship is a deliberate attempt by SAB to address the gender inequalities that persist in the sports industry, and reaffirms our company’s commitment to South African sports,” said SAB’s general manager: flavoured alcoholic beverages, Micah Naidoo.
Keeping viewers abreast of developments of the games will be Simnikiwe Mdaka, this year’s Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League ambassador. The Cape Town-born ambassador is no stranger to the netball courts – she is a former Fast5 player and represented the country at the highest level as the captain of the South African netball team.
One of the key initiatives around the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League is to raise awareness of breast cancer. Netball South Africa and South African Breweries, through Brutal Fruit, will once again dedicate a Pink Drive day during the 2016 season to this worthy cause.
The league allows players the opportunity to showcase their talents at national level, so that South Africans can be inspired by this highly competitive sport.
Tickets are available at Computicket at R20 per person.
