Nick Butler: Olympics still the long-term target as netball shoots towards greater global role

With six weeks to go until the Commonwealth Games open in Glasgow on July 23, it is probably sports such as athletics, swimming or rugby sevens that are generating the most excitement.

But another core sport steeped in the recent history of both the Games and the Commonwealth is netball, and it is hoped that Glasgow 2014 can provide another boost for this unique discipline on the long and windy road to eventual inclusion in the Olympic Games.

As a man, I expect I am rather unusual in claiming to be a former netball player. Aged 10, our school year group was woefully short of girls so a team was formed consisting mostly of boys. This approach may have been novel, but it unfortunately failed to work as we were overpowered by taller, talented and better skilled female opponents.

It may seem strange that in an age where equality is being pushed more than ever before, there remains a sport exclusively aimed at one gender. Yet this is the central tenet of netball and the key appeal of the sport looking forward, as the International Netball Federation (INF) targets improving the number of recognised national federations from the current total of 73.

"It is probably the only truly women's sport," Jamaican Molly Rhone, who has served as INF President since 2003, tells insidethegames.

"It is a big advantage for young women to play a sport that only other women play. In lots of other sports, although many girls compete, the biggest names and biggest role-models are male, and it is great that in netball all of the role-models for young players are women.

"It is a cheap game to play and a good way to keep women active. But it is more than a great game and we think of ourselves as empowering women through sport."

New Zealand star Irene van Dyk, who announced her international retirement last week, is one top role-model ©Facebook

Netball first emerged at the end of the 19th century after the sport of basketball was adopted into what was considered a more female-friendly form at an English Physical Training College, with the principal difference being that movement with the ball was banned and restricted areas of the court were established for each position.

From there it was rolled out across the British Empire, and in 1960 the INF was formed to standardise the game before the first World Championships took place in the southern English seaside town of Eastbourne three years later.

It remains essentially a sport for the Commonwealth countries, with reigning Commonwealth Games champions New Zealand and reigning world champions Australia occupying the top two places in the world rankings. England, Jamaica, Malawi, South Africa and Fiji are in positions three to seven.

But huge effort is being made to bring the sport to new parts of the world. Israel competed at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Glasgow, for example, while Argentina will be among the participants at the Americas Federation of Netball Associations Championships in Calgary this August.

Switzerland, the United States, Taiwan and Thailand are all members of the INF, while foreign coaches are working in other parts of Latin America, such as Uruguay and Paraguay. There are more recognised countries playing the sport in Asia than anywhere else and it is hoped that participating in the South East Asian (SEA) Games, taking place from June 5 to 16 next year in Singapore, will pave the way to eventual Asian Games inclusion.

Last month, Rhone attended the netball competition at the African Youth Games in Bostwana's capital Gabarone, where the sport was featuring for the first time.

"The crowds were great and there was a really festive atmosphere," she reported. "I hadn't seen teams from [gold medal winners] Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe playing before and I was really impressed with the skill levels on display. A lot of matches were really close and were decided by one goal. Many people in Botswana said they hadn't seen netball before and it was a great advert for the sport.

"What is good is that all of the English speaking countries in Africa are now playing. And if senior players from these countries are twice as good as the youth ones, then the rest of the world better watch out!"

Given the cheapness and the comparative void in established team sports for women on the continent, Africa has clearly been identified as an opportunity for netball. The INF are also aiming to help with development there away from the court, and their work with international organisation Peace and Sport in Burundi was acknowledged with an award at the 2012 Africa International Sports Convention for making a "significant contribution to peace and the promotion of sport in Africa".

Like Africa, India is another area in which netball has enjoyed recent growth ©Facebook

It is hoped that by steadily building this international role, and by competing in events such as the SEA Games and the African Youth Games, the long-term goal of Olympic inclusion will eventually be reached.

In 1995, netball was recognised by the International Olympic Committee and they are now a member of the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF), with Rhone having served as a Board member since May 2013.

Rhone, who was vice-captain of the Jamaican team at the 1975 World Championships before working for two decades with Air Jamaica, hopes that Olympic inclusion is something that will eventually occur by default more than by a specific campaign.

"We have a great group [in ARISF] and my comments are sought like everyone else's," she told insidethegames. "It is a vibrant forum for the non-Olympic sports and we have a voice with the IOC and with other bodies.

"I don't think netball really has a 'campaign' to get in to the Olympics - we don't have the money to do that! But we hope that in time it will just happen. I think there will come a time where they will re-examine the disciplines, and we think and hope they will include netball when they do this.

"It is great that the sport is growing. We would love to see the sport in the Olympics one day. Not in the near future but it is still an aspiration.

"Netball would definitely add something: no one can dominate because you cannot move with the ball, so it is exciting, simple to understand and good to watch."

Unsurprisingly, Rhone believes that netball should take advantage of the current drive for gender equality engulfing the Olympic Movement, but she believes the inclusion of netball would achieve this in a more natural sense than artificially altering long-established programmes in other sports to add more female events.

"There has been a lot of focus on gender equality, but I think it would be better to do this by focusing across the entire Games rather than by changing specific sports," she argues. "Some sports lend themselves better to gender equality than others. Why not enter women under their own sport?"

Molly Rhone (left), pictured at the Queen's Baton Relay event in Manchester last month, believes more women can succeed in top sporting roles ©Twitter

One final opportunity that netball would provide is opportunities for women in a coaching and an administrative sense as well as in terms of participation. These are topics which have enjoyed a lot of focus recently, including during a special "Women in Sport" panel during the SportAccord Convention in Belek, Turkey, earlier this year.

As well as reinvigorating an "Auld Alliance" between France and Scotland, the fascinating unveiling yesterday of former Grand Slam champion Amélie Mauresmo as the new coach for British tennis star Andy Murray is another boost, with women coaching men something virtually unique in top-level sport today.

But Rhone believes that having the assurance they can perform top roles as successfully as their male counterparts is key, as is having a "confident approach".

"The opportunities are there for women in sport," she insists. "We cannot feel threatened and must put ourselves up.

"We need to make an impression. When running as a Board member of ARISF, I said don't vote for me because I am a women, vote for me for what I will do.

"We have to have responsibility that we can deliver."

It is this approach that has got Rhone and netball where it is today and they must also be confident of more success in future months, at Glasgow 2014 and beyond.

Nick Butler is a reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here.