SR teams continue to dominate in netball

North and Central regions’ netball teams failure to win the Presidential Cup last week marked about 32 years without the two regions producing a national tournament winner. The record has led into the unsuccessful clubs blaming player poaching and lack of sponsorship.

National netball tournaments started in 1993/94 with the Whitex National Cup followed by the Commercial Bank-sponsored Baobab Trophy, (which later became Standard Bank Cup). Others that came into the fold were Toyota Malawi and now there is GOtv, Airtel and the government-sponsored Presidential Cup.

All these trophies have been shared among Southern Region teams—Whitex, MBC Radiowomen, Thunder Queens formerly MTL Queens, Tigresses (formerly known as Admarc Tigresses) and Kukoma Diamonds previously known as Escom Sisters.

These clubs dominance is also reflected in the Malawi national netball team as a bulk of their players have, over the years, been the backbone of the squads that have won Southern Africa championships and competed at global tournaments.

Northern Region Netball Committee (NRNC) chairperson Chancy Munthali said their teams have been underperforming because teams, mostly from the Southern Region have been poaching players from their northern counterparts.

“We can’t produce champions when teams from other regions, especially the South, keep on poaching good players. This disrupts progress in our teams,” she lamented.

Over the years, some players that were roped from the Northern Region teams are Future Mtegha, Bridget Kumwenda, Grace Mwafulirwa, Sindi Simtowe and Wezzie Mwafulirwa.

Munthali said Southern Region’s dominance was worrying while appealing to the clubs to financially motivate players so they do not accept offers from the big teams.

“We are also concerned that teams in our region are failing to earn the national titles,” she said. “However, the situation can be addressed if teams are able to keep their best players by offering attractive packages.”

Among the three north teams that competed at the Presidential Cup last week was Mimosa Queens whose team manager Tamara Fwentha said they were unable to stop big clubs from poaching their players because they do not have the financial power to offer good packages.

“There is need for sponsors to pump in enough resources so that players should not be poached. We let out good players to join other teams because we don’t have enough resources to block poachers,” she said.

While agreeing with Fwentha, another club Lameck Queens coach Jean Kachali said there is also a need for companies to sponsor regional competitions so that teams should always be active.

“If we can have more sponsored bonanzas like what happens in the South, we can do better,” she said before warning. “The situation will remain the same if we don’t have more regional tournaments,” she said.

The Central Region last year came close to claiming the first national title after Lilongwe based Blue Eagles Sisters claimed its inaugural finals during the GOtv championship. However, the Police sponsored side lost to Tigresses.

Eagles coach Samuel Kanyenda attributed the region’s poor showing to lack of the Central Region Netball Committee’s failure to organise a league for the past four years.

“Our players do not play regularly because there’s no league. It means the only time we regroup is when we are preparing for the national competitions. How do you expect our players to be fit under such circumstances?” he queried.

Meanwhile, Kukoma Diamonds captain Caroline Mtukule-Ngwira also concurred with Kanyenda saying their Central and Northern Region are disadvantaged because they are always inactive.

“The challenge is that the centre does not have a league while in the north there is Nico-sponsored league but it is not as competitive as ours,” said Mtukule-Ngwira, who was poached from the Central Region.

Meanwhile, Khungekile Matiya, chairperson for the Southern Region Netball Committee (SRNC), which runs the Rainbow Paints League, said although she was proud that her teams were scooping all the trophies, there was need for other regions to establish strong structures so that they are also competitive.

“They need to market their game, motivate the players with the little they have and make sure that they secure league sponsorship. If all teams in Malawi can be competitive then our netball will be strong,” she said.

On his part, Central Region Netball League (CRNL) chairperson Fanuel Katengeza admitted that lack of league netball has affected the performance of Central Region teams.

“We really feel bad that our teams are doing poorly on the national stage. However, teams should be assured that we have been seeking sponsorship from the corporate and probably next year, the league will return to action,” he said.