Netball: Eligibility rules spark debate

Rachel Rasmussen is one Pacific Island netballer who will not be playing at the world championships. Photo / Getty Images

The debate over netball's international eligibility rules will flare up again at next month's congress meeting in Singapore, with newly nominated international federation board member Raelene Castle set to argue for the rules to be loosened.

The sport's leaders from around the world will meet before the start of the world championships to discuss the future of netball.

Castle's nomination to the board will be ratified at the International Federation of Netball Associations meeting, replacing outgoing vice-president Kereyn Smith, who is stepping down because of the demands of her new role as secretary-general of the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

Castle, the chief executive of Netball New Zealand, said "in a perfect world" the head of a national body would not sit on the board of an international federation, but there were no other nominations put forward.

"We felt it important that we have a New Zealand voice at the table," she said.

"I think it's a great opportunity to work closely with the international body to see if we can grow the commercial side of the game and the profile of the high-performance end of the game."

One of the key talking points at the meeting is expected to be the eligibility rules and their effect on the competitiveness of smaller netball nations. Castle last month submitted a discussion paper advocating a change to international eligibility rules and expects it will spark a "full and robust" debate.

She argues that the current rules are only going to widen the gap between the top four countries and the rest of the world.

Her Australian counterpart, Kate Palmer, has also submitted a paper along similar lines.

In previous years New Zealand-based players have "propped up" the smaller Pacific Island nations at the world championships.

But these players are now turning down opportunities to play as it would compromise their transtasman league contracts and future eligibility to play for New Zealand.

There are several players in the ANZ Championship who have Pacific Island ancestry, including the Magic shooter Julianna Naoupu, Mystics defender Rachel Rasmussen and defenders Bessie Manu and Finau Pulu at the Central Pulse and Tactix respectively. These players will not be playing at the world championships.

Samoan coach Linda Vagana believes it is disappointing when they could be assisting in helping other nations to be more competitive.

"I believe they need to relax the rules somewhere, because netball in the Pacific, as much as we are trying to build ourselves through our Pacific series, we also need the experience of those ones playing in the ANZ as well."

Vagana will take an extremely young side to Singapore, with just five members of the team having played in Delhi last year, after Netball Samoa changed its selection policy.

"The priority for them is to try and use the girls who are committed to playing for Samoa," said Vagana, "rather than relying on overseas players all the time."