The Netball Show
S7 Ep47: Why No Netball In The Olympics? (25th July 2024)
(upbeat music) - NetNet Cop here. I'm really proud to be an ambassador for FlyHawk, leading the way for Netball and Women's Sport. FlyHawk Design and Make Netball Dresses have Netball Kit, Netball Teamwork and Netballs plus much, much more. Head to flyhawk.com now. - The netball show with FlyHawk. Raising the bar for Netball and Women's Sport. - Netball show with FlyHawk. Debbie Harris, you're the MD of Netball UK and behind Wino and Nipple. Debbie, Wino and Nipple in the Olympics. Important that Nipple UK launch something like this and raise the question, isn't it? - Yeah, I just think that we've got the Olympic in Paris and then a key one really is Australia in 2032, which is a real opportunity for us to bring in Netball as a demonstration sport. Obviously being so big in Australia, that's the biggest opportunity I think we'll possibly ever have to make it on this stage. And just at the moment, we'll come off games. That's essentially not gonna happen. That's so big for Netball, which leads us with one big championship at the minute, which is Netball World Cup that we know is gonna happen to short. And I think to take Netball to the next level, we need more people to talk about it, more people to play and more people watching. And that will then take us hopefully on a journey to the Olympics. And once, you know, if it ever does hit the Olympics, then it could just take our sport exponentially. - What work had been done leading into the launch? - Yeah, well, it was actually Stephen Naylor who a consultant here will work with from Wailville Conservancy. We worked together on all the kind of marketing and promotions for Netball UK. And it was actually his idea. So he's kind of pulled together all the research, you know, we've obviously discussed it and we thought it'd be a great campaign and certainly to just raise some awareness and discuss the topic. And I know previously, I've been used to our brown stuff. It's something a few years ago. And that really kind of made some impact but it's kind of fallen away again. So we just want to revisit that conversation and with the Olympics upon us, we need to be talking about it. We need to be pushing it and just really making some noise and not just in the Netball community but wider because we need that wider audience to try and understand why it's not in and what can change to make it more of a proposition. And I know that a big thing is that it's super kind of more inclusive and men and boys be involved as well. Of course, as we know, and that one of the contributors is a chair of the England Men's and Mixed Association. So, you know, that side is growing but I don't think it should be down to that. And they talk about the kind of numbers and counts and things like that that could potentially impact it. But for me, I guess my big argument is we have so many, it's meant to be for amateur sports and at the minute we get, you know, there's tennis, you know, football. I mean, I really don't understand, you know, what I thought was in there. I think we should really be showcasing other sports that need that outlet to promote themselves and to showcase and see what people can do and grow those sports as part of that, kind of amateur, into professional forum. And I think sports like ours could really progress from that. You know, whereas football, it's got all the eyes and they all around the world. And it doesn't really need that kind of exposure. So it could be an absolutely key platform for netball going forward. And, you know, I know there's all, sorry, the home nations is kind of a difficult conversation because it would mean a great Britain netball theme as opposed to the home nations who currently sit separately but surely we can get past that, you know, as far as that goes for a bigger picture. - And especially as we've seen some really weird stuff over the years, added into the Olympics. I mean, I don't know if you'd seen, but there was a horse's head riding championships as part of it. I don't know if that was made up, but riding a horse. - Are you sure that was an open stick? That is just nuts. - Oh, ludicrous. Oh, some of the things that are in there, I absolutely don't get the, not even what I would consider a sport. And I think that's where it can become a bit laughable almost, but really, you know, why are we as a women's sport being excluded? Because, you know, in this day and age, we shouldn't be against those kind of barriers. - And another opportunity to see some of the world's best perform is almost something that would both welcome. - Oh, yeah, on the biggest stage, absolutely. You know, and there are aspects of sports that only men do and only women do. And to me, that really shouldn't be the reason why. You know, obviously women competing on the rings in gymnastics, we don't see the men doing the revolution or whatever. You know, it's just, I just think we need to push as a netball community and to really get that message out there and get everybody on the bandwagon and really start shouting for netball. - It was launched a short time ago. So what are signatories looking like, how are the numbers so far? - I think we're approaching about a thousand or so, which is pretty amazing and a short amount of time. Yeah, we've just, we've included people from around the world. You know, we saw like sometimes a big, big, big voice, big personality within that ball. You know, she's contributed, but we need people around the world now. You know, I'm not just here in England and the UK. We need everybody to be far and wide to really start sharing this, championing it, talking about it, you know, signing up, like, you know, let's do this. You know, we can really make some noise if we want to. - What are some of the comments you've been getting as well? - The literally all positive comments because there's a good few comments kind of around why it's not in the Olympics. But, you know, like anything, you know, I like to challenge and break things down and give us a real genuine reason why, you know, not just a, it feels like red tape almost. You know, and why is it holding a women's sport back that is played by so many people around the world. And yes, you could say it's predominantly commonwealth countries, but, you know, there are more countries that actually get involved in it if it was on the Olympic stage. You know, you'd soon be getting more and more people involved. - And finally, how can we add our support? How can you add our name to the list? - Yeah, there's links across social media platforms on netballUK or if you go to our website netballUK.co.uk or slash YN on netball. So, yeah, please sign up and, you know, let's do this together. The netball community is brilliant. You know, if there's ever a campaign, you know, let's get behind it, let's get sharing, shouting about it. - Brilliant, Debbie, thanks for your time. - How you welcome me? - The netball show is now also available via SkyHD, SkyQ, and Skyglass. So let's sport and we're on the podcast rail. (whooshing)
MD of Netball UK Debbie Hallas joins us as they raise the question "Why No Netball In The Olympics" and you can get involved too