Top netballers put on notice

• Published date: 18 April 2024
• Author: NETBALL Bridget Tunnicliffe of RNZ
• Publication title: Whanganui Chronicle

But netball officials believe it won’t be long before umpires and players adjust to the new interpretations around “dangerous play”

World Netball’s revised rules came into force at the start of this year.

They put a greater emphasis on player safety and effectively lowered the threshold for suspending players.

The first two suspensions came in the opening game of the season between the Mystics and Magic.

In the second quarter, Oceane Maihi was suspended for two minutes after a contact with Mystics shooter Grace Nweke, which resulted in Nweke falling to the ground.

In the final quarter, Mystics captain Michaela Sokolich-Beatson was sent to the sideline for two minutes after a heavy hit on Ali Wilshire that left her sprawled on the ground.

In the next game, Stars defender Khanye’-Lii Munro-Nonoa was suspended for dangerous play, after a late challenge on Pulse centre Maddy Gordon early in the game.

Then, with just 11 seconds left in the final game, Steel defender Taneisha Fifita became the fourth player to be suspended after moving slightly into the landing space of Tactix shooter Ellie Bird, who did not look too bothered by the contact.

In contrast, no suspensions were issued across the ditch, after the completion of round one of Australia’s Suncorp Super Netball competition (SSN) over the weekend.

Former top New Zealand netball umpire turned Super Rugby referee Jono Bredin is a member of World Netball’s Rules Advisory Panel (RAP), which developed the revised rules.

Bredin said there were instances in the SSN that potentially warranted a suspension, while there were situations in New Zealand that perhaps did not.

“There would be situations that we’ve observed across both leagues that potentially in our view wasn’t the right outcome. But I guess the key thing from us here is that this is all new for the umpires as well as it is for the teams.

“And what we were pleased to see was umpires looking to apply these game management actions to protect player safety,” Bredin said.

“There were certainly situations where there were suspensions over the weekend that were well applied.

“And there were probably some missed opportunities in Australia, based on the games that we saw over the weekend.”

Former top Australian umpire Michelle Phippard is also on the Rules Advisory Panel and Bredin said they had shared notes after the first round of both leagues.

“We’re running a Zoom session with all the international umpires next week to just check in — in terms of game...