Netball SA president Molokwane issues stern warning to privately owned event
Cecilia Molokwane has issued a strong warning to the organisers of the privately owned netball event and said the competition planned for early year will not go ahead without Netball SA's permission.
The Netball Super League (NSL) has been accused of undermining the sport's governing body and the tough-talking Netball SA president said they have distanced themselves from the private event.
“NSL is the Netball Super League and as NSA we would like to distance ourselves from it‚” she said.
“We never endorsed it and they don’t have players. We have the players and they want to use those players and our coaches but they don’t want to adhere by what we want them to adhere to.
"The one thing that worries us as NSA is that we have said that we want to turn netball professional and now people are saying that they want to turn netball professional. I must say that we are amazed as to why people suddenly want to turn netball professional in their own space.
“If you want to help us to grow and develop netball‚ come and show us your plan. Say to us this is what we are planning and what we want to do and we will tell you how things should be done.
"This is the way it should be done to make sure that it covers everybody because at the end of the day we want to make sure that our players are well taken care of and they are not abused.
“You are trying to lure our players because of money.
"You don’t want to tell us how much you are going to pay them‚ you don’t want to tell us who are the franchise people and how much they paid for those franchises.
"We don’t want to turn out like others where we have two entities in a federation. NSA are the custodians of netball in this country and we are not going to let anything that is not sanctioned by us to go easily because you are not going to use our players‚ our coaches and anyone who is registered with NSA.”
Ziyaad Desai‚ who is the founder and chief executive NSL‚ said they had fruitful meetings with Gauteng Netball and are not far from getting an endorsement.
“We are currently in negotiations with Gauteng Netball as per Cecilia’s suggestion‚" Desai said.
"My last meeting was very positive and it looked like we have reached an endorsement stage. Discussions are positive but I don’t know why Cecilia would say what she said‚ but then again one has to ask is it only Netball South Africa who can [organise netball in SA].
"We will provide opportunities to over 1000 players and 90 coaches. It is about giving players the opportunity to showcase their talents and breaking down barriers in a country with so much talent‚” said Desai.