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Fast5 Netball World Series

The Fast5 Netball World Series is an annual international Fast5 netball competition. The competition, which began in October 2009, features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens.[1][2] The competition is contested by the six top national netball teams in the world, according to the INF World Rankings.[3]

Fast5 Netball World Series
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024 Fast5 Netball World Series
SportFast5 netball
First season2009
No. of teams6
Most recent
champion(s)		 Australia
Most titles New Zealand (7 titles)
TV partner(s)Australia Seven Network
New Zealand Sky Sport
England Sky Sports

Background

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Before 2008, the major competitions in international netball were the quadrennial Netball World Championships (renamed Netball World Cup in 2015) and the netball event of the quadrennial Commonwealth Games. First-tier national teams also participated in yearly test series, with others playing in regional events. However, several significant changes in international netball occurred in 2008. Changes to international test rules were finalised at a World Netball (WN) congress in Auckland in 2007, and progressively rolled out across netball-playing countries the following year.[4] WN also introduced a new world rankings system to compare the performances of national teams.[5] In England, a campaign was started advocating netball's inclusion in the Olympic Games, as a demonstration sport in 2012 and potentially as a competitive sport from 2016.[6] In the Southern Hemisphere, the sport attained semi-professional status in Australia and New Zealand with the introduction of the ANZ Championship.[7][8]

Also, in December 2008 a new international netball competition was announced, the World Netball Series, to be contested in 2009 under modified rules.[1] The new rules had been trialed by England junior and senior squads over a 12-month period.[9] DVDs were sent to coaches of the participating teams for consultation. Some of the new rules were announced in December 2008, including six-minute playing quarters and power plays;[1][10] others were announced in February 2009.[9]

Prior to the 2012 edition the rules were revamped and renamed Fast5.[11]

Format

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The competition is held over two days, and is played under Fast5 rules. Each team plays each other once during the first two days in a round-robin format. The four highest-scoring teams from this stage progress to the finals, played on the final day of competition, in which the 1st-ranked team plays the 4th-ranked team, while 2nd plays 3rd. The winners of these two matches contest the Grand Final; the remaining teams contest the third- and fifth-place playoffs.[12]

Venues

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The first three editions of the tournament were held in England. Initially, Manchester was to host all three seasons in England at the MEN Arena. The venue is the largest indoor arena in Europe, capable of seating around 20,000 spectators.[13] However, the 2010 tournament was held in Liverpool at the Echo Arena, as was the 2011 tournament.

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    2009: MEN Arena, Manchester (UK)
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    2010–2011: Echo Arena, Liverpool (UK)
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    2012–2014: Vector Arena, Auckland (NZ)
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    2016–2018: John Cain Arena, Melbourne (AUS)
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    2022–2024 Christchurch Arena, Christchurch (NZ)

Results

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Year Host Final 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Winner Final Score Runner-up
2009  
Manchester 		  New Zealand 32-27   Jamaica   Australia   England   Malawi   Samoa
2010  
Liverpool 		  New Zealand 28-26   England   Jamaica   Australia   Malawi   South Africa
2011  
Liverpool 		  England 33-26   New Zealand   Australia   Jamaica   South Africa   Fiji
2012  
Auckland 		  New Zealand 23-21   England   South Africa   Jamaica   Malawi   Australia
2013  
Auckland 		  New Zealand 56-27   Australia   Jamaica   South Africa   Malawi   England
2014  
Auckland 		  New Zealand 35-31   Australia   England   Jamaica   South Africa   Malawi
2016  
Melbourne 		  New Zealand 41-16   Australia   Malawi   England   Jamaica   South Africa
2017  
Melbourne 		  England 34-29   Jamaica   Australia   New Zealand   South Africa   Malawi
2018  
Melbourne 		  New Zealand 34-33   Jamaica   Australia   Malawi   England   South Africa
2022  
Christchurch 		  Australia 34-20   South Africa   New Zealand   England   Uganda   Jamaica
2023  
Christchurch 		  Australia[14] 35-23[14]   New Zealand   England   South Africa   Jamaica   Malawi

Organization

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The World Netball Series is organized by a local organizing committee and overseen by World Netball, in conjunction with the national governing bodies of the six competing nations each year.

Reception

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Australian coach Norma Plummer greeted the new tournament positively: "If you want your sport to keep growing these days, it's got to become up with the times and keep having innovations that make the game exciting for not only the players, but all the spectators."[15] But Plummer also expressed some reservations about power plays being used against substantially weaker teams, and also about penalty shootouts and the new centre pass rule.[16]

Netball New Zealand (NNZ) Chief Executive Raelene Castle stated that she was "excited about what the new competition could bring to the ever-increasing profile of Netball internationally".[17] However, Castle also acknowledged that the shortened version of the game "may not be for everyone". New Zealand netball and basketball player Donna Wilkins also stated her concerns about the sport becoming too similar to basketball.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Newstalk ZB (2 December 2008). "Innovative World Series planned for next year". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  2. ^ Marshall, Jane (5 February 2009). "Kiwis keen on novel netball variant". The Press. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  3. ^ "Samoa prepares for World netball series". Samoa Observer. 18 December 2008. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  4. ^ ONE Sport (New Zealand) (27 February 2008). "Rule changes set to impact". TVNZ. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  5. ^ "IFNA: World Rankings". Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
  6. ^ "Netball targeting Olympic status". BBC. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  7. ^ Australian Associated Press (9 October 2007). "Professional era coming soon: Ellis". The Age. Retrieved 3 April 2008.
  8. ^ Johannsen, Dana (29 March 2008). "Glitz and hype turn netball into money game". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
  9. ^ a b Johannsen, Dana (5 February 2009). "Innovations sure to raise eyebrows". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  10. ^ "Malawi Queens to play in Manchester, World Series". Nyasa Times. 2 December 2008. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  11. ^ Expect the unexpected at the Fast5 nz.sports.yahoo.com, 8 November 2012
  12. ^ "Calling All Netball Fans!". IFNA. 3 April 2009. Archived from the original on 14 March 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2009.
  13. ^ "MEN Arena: History". Archived from the original on 19 April 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  14. ^ a b "Australia win second straight FAST5 Netball World Series title". International Netball Federation. Archived from the original on 27 November 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  15. ^ Williams, Rebecca (5 February 2009). "Game to be shortened". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  16. ^ Warren, Adrian (1 December 2008). "Netball to try short game format". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  17. ^ "Silver Ferns to take part in World Netball Series". Netball New Zealand. 5 February 2009. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  18. ^ Miles, Penny (19 March 2009). "Netball changes opposed". The Dominion Post. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
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