Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze
Zimpapers Sports Hub
DESPITE rising competitive standards, fuelled by strong leagues, there are genuine fears that domestic netball could suffer a reversal of the gains made owing to funding challenges.
It has emerged that a deepening sponsorship crisis is threatening to undo recent progress made by the Premier Netball League and Rainbow Netball League, which have been the feeder divisions of talent to the senior national team, the Gems.
This is because funding shortfalls are now hitting both leagues at a time when the Gems are looking to secure passage to the next Netball World Cup.
For years, financial institution Nedbank has been the known sponsor for PNL, with the bank pouring in US$100 000 in 2023.
The figure was to be split between the national team and the league.
This led to the PNL being rebranding to the Nedbank Premier Netball League.
However, since 2024, the league has not received the sponsorship as a lumpsum.
Instead, Nedbank last year revealed that they would release funds on an event-by-event basis, raising some questions on their commitment.
In the RANL, funding has also been a challenge as it appears to be on a decline following a US$32 000 Glow Petroleum sponsorship kitty that has been put up for this season.
For a league that chewed up at least US$68 000 last year, this fund will not be enough and clubs are set to face a difficult season to plug the deficit, through self-funding.
The struggles also seem to have been put into perspective by the fact that RANL only managed to host their 2025 awards night recently after postponing the event thrice.
In previous years, all teams were financially rewarded at the end of the year for their participation.
However, this year, only the top five teams were rewarded.
And more worryingly, prize money for the winners dropped this time in what could have been a glaring statement around funding challenges creeping in.
“If we look at what is happening in both leagues in the past two seasons, you can tell that financially something is just not right,” said an administrator, who could not be named for fear of victimisation.
“Nedbank and Glow have been the leagues’ sponsors for years but without complementary sponsorship it will eventually become tough for them.
“We are now in that phase and based on history if these leagues do not get complementary sponsors, netball could be in huge trouble.”
While the corporate sector appears reluctant to commit to sponsor netball, the Zimbabwe Netball Associatin have also been found wanting netball and stand accused of not inspiring confidence among current and potential sponsors.
In 2019, when the Gems staged a memorable World Cup debut in Liverpool, a number of sponsors reportedly wanted to be associated with the game.
Econet, Edgars, Spar Zimbabwe, Eve Gym and National Foods, among others came on board to rescue the sport.
However, their stay was short-lived amid concerns centred on lack of corporate governance.
Despite the gloom over the sustainability of the game, ZINA secretary-general, Racheal Tinorwirashe maintains that the future is bright and will be anchored on Nedbank’s financial support.
She confirmed that Nedbank now fund events as they come and often pay directly to the service providers.
“They remain our official sponsor and they operate in a way of paying directly to service providers, so we only give them invoices and they do the payments.
“Nedbank also gave us room to find complimentary sponsors so that our game is well funded,” Tinorwirashe said.
However currently, the corporate world has not shown a lot of commitment to invest in netball.
Tinorwirashe acknowledged the need for the netball community to improve in their marketing drives to lure sponsorship.
“If we market our game, it becomes appealing to the corporate world and I am sure game-changers can come on board.
“World over, sport is now a business and I believe that this is also time for us to start exploring ways of transforming our game into business so that sponsors get value for their money,” she said.
Observers are, however, worried by the netball authorities’ failure to retain corporate partners.
“This has always been our biggest challenge, sponsors come and go just like that and this does not seem to bother the netball bosses,” another administrator said.
“The moment the association lures sponsorship, it also creates a conducive room for the leagues to be able to do so without a lot of challenges.
“It is sad that we are back on the same road that we were prior to the 2019 World Cup where some teams could even be walked over due to financial challenges.”
