KEY POINTS:
Expect the same format for the 2011 world championships in Singapore.
International Federation of Netball Associations president Molly Rhone said yesterday some consideration had been given to running the 16-team event in two pools of eight instead of four even groups as had been done here. But wear and tear on players militated against it.
"We thought it would have been such a strain on the players because we would have been asking them to play 10 games in 11 days," Rhone, a Jamaican, said yesterday.
Either way, the top four of New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica and England, would still have emerged using whatever format the International Federation of Netball Associations had opted for, given the gulf between them and the other 12 nations.
Auckland was the first tournament where qualifying had been used to sort out the participants. With 65 member countries - and 80 countries playing netball - that had to become routine.
"We must have qualifiers. There's absolutely no way we can return to an open-ended system," she said of the system by which countries could signal a year out that they would attend the champs, irrespective of their ranking. In Jamaica four years ago, 24 countries turned up.
The present format offers a more streamlined procedure and also toughens the criteria. Outside the "big four", the championships have been a roaring success for Africa, and a disaster for the Caribbean.
Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago arrived ranked No 7 and 10 respectively. They will fly home out of the top 10, both having been tipped over by Botswana, who did not have a world ranking when they got to Auckland for their first appearance at the worlds.
Both Malawi and Botswana will finish inside the top 12 - Botswana could be as high as ninth - but Rhone, while delighted for Africa, is worried about her own region.
"I am concerned. You don't want to see countries drop off as others rise. It doesn't have to be one or the other," she said.
She puts a large part of the problem down to the corrosive influence of American basketball, citing a young Jamaican shooter from the last worlds who had never picked up a basketball.
"They came to the courts, saw her skills and offered her a scholarship. They want to improve themselves academically so they go. All Caribbean countries are suffering from that."
Uncovering fresh talent is critical in avoiding a severe run-off of the best players.
But the Africans get high praise.
"That is unbelievable," she said of Botswana's performance. "Africa is a priority area for IFNA. We've invested resources there and it has really paid off."
Rhone praised the organisation of the championships, which New Zealand picked up at short notice after Fiji lost the rights over the military coup on the island last year.
