Londeka Buthelezi of Dr Kenneth Kaunda in action against Ekurhuleni on day four of the Spar National Netball Championships at Zwartkloof Game Reserve in Bela-Bela. Picture: Reg Caldecott/Gallo Images
The general lack of interest in this week’s Spar National Netball Championships has been concerning.
And if we consider that this country will host the sport’s flagship international event in just a few years, the buy-in from the South African sporting community has been nothing short of alarming.
When we hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, we didn’t wait until they won before we got behind the Boks.
We were so committed to that tournament that it is still highlighted as the prime example of how we can use sports events to bring us together as a nation.
Eight years later, when we hosted the Cricket World Cup, we showed our support to the Proteas in the build-up, throwing our collective weight behind “our team”.
Fast forward another seven years and you would have to search long and hard to find another occasion that did more to make us feel proudly South African than when we got the chance to host the Fifa World Cup.
The reaction to winning the bid for the 2023 netball showpiece has been so tame, however, it’s as if it never happened.
Aside from the benefits of promoting Cape Town as the host city, and the opportunity we have to bring South Africans together once more, the Proteas have also proved that they are ready to put up a fight in search of their maiden World Cup title.
Much like the football team in 2010, it is unlikely that they will win, but unlike Bafana Bafana, the Proteas do at least have a chance.
And if they’re going to make the effort to ensure they carry our flag with pride, and Netball SA is able to put together a world-class event, it makes no sense that we’re not getting behind them with less than three years left before the spectacle gets underway.
This week, the interest in the National Netball Championships has reflected our lack of respect for the sport, and considering how much we’ve supported other codes which are predominantly contested by men, it really is a disgrace that we can’t show the same support for the one sport which is predominantly contested by women.
In a month which has included a nationwide campaign highlighting the overwhelming abuse of women, we need to check ourselves and ask why netball doesn’t get more support from all of us.
Come on SA. We can do better than this, and do better we must.
Wesley Botton.
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