The best thing to happen to South African netball in a very long time.
That was the overwhelmingly positive phrase with which Elize Kotze, the coach of the South African netball team, described the brand new Varsity Netball competition, which starts on Saturday.
The country’s eight top university netball teams will fight it out for Varsity supremacy over the next six weeks, in an initiative not only designed to give South Africa’s very best more chance to compete on a strength versus strength basis, but also meant to bring potential stars of the future to the fore.
It will commence on Saturday 21 September, at the campuses of NMMU and the University of Pretoria, and be contested between the North West University (Pukke), the University of Pretoria (Tuks), University of Stellenbosch (Maties), University of Free State (Kovsies), the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), the University of Johannesburg (UJ), the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT).
Each team will play seven round robin games. Thereafter the top four will move on to semifinals, while the bottom four will go into playoff matches to decide the lower positions.
“I am hugely excited about the Varsity competition,” Kotze – a former coach of the Tuks netball team – said. “I think this is exactly what South African netball needs and is one of the best things to happen to our sport in ages.
“Stats show that the route to the highest level went through university football for as much as 80% of our national players. That speaks volumes of the high standard of play on university level.”
Kotze and her Protea players left for England on Wednesday, to play in a three match series against the world’s number three team. This means the national players will miss the first weekend of Varsity action.
They will be available for the rest of the competition, though.
“I absolutely feel they should play in the Varsity challenge after we return from England,” Kotze said.
“This competition provides a platform on which our players can play in high intensity matches on a weekly basis, keeping the girls sharp.”
The first weekend of competition will feature a total of twelve matches, with four each on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
All the Monday matches will be televised live on Supersport.
