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Australia’s world championship netballers are revelling in their celebrity status in New Zealand – a far cry from anything they experience at home.
In New Zealand the sport is one of the country’s most popular with the public, with both domestic and international competitions followed religiously alongside cricket and rugby union.
Stories about netball regularly fill prime positions in newspapers throughout the year, with the national team, the Silver Ferns, often featuring in magazines, television advertisements and on billboards.
And players from arch-rival Australia are also well known to many Kiwis.
Favoured by the bookies to win back the world crown from New Zealand in the next week, the Australian players admit they love the netball buzz in Auckland and the novel experience of being recognised and sought out in public.
“Just going down the street to get lunch people notice if you’re wearing an Australian jumper, people talk to you about the netball and everything,” said the youngest Australian team member, 21-year-old Victorian defender Julie Prendergast.
“It’d be great to see that in Australia.
“It’s been really good, just seeing all the ads on TV and the coverage they get in the media, it’s just a great thing for the sport and I just love being around it.”
It’s very different from their experience in Australia where, despite the national team’s great success for many years, only a few players, including captain Liz Ellis and shooters Sharelle McMahon and Catherine Cox get widespread attention.
In Australia the world championship has even struggled for air time – with the November 17 final to be broadcast three hours after its played in NSW, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania.
Having experienced the hype in New Zealand many times before, coach Norma Plummer says she still gets blown away by the way the support.
Plummer, of course, would like to see netball rise to the same prominence as male-dominated sports in Australia, but admits it isn’t likely to happen in the near future – even though the start of the new Trans Tasman competition next year could help raise its profile.
“We’re on a first name basis with the world here, it’s quite unreal and it’s different,” Plummer said.
“The girls deserve it, but we’ve got four football codes and cricket back there (in Australia) before we even take the next step, so it’s a bit hard.”
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