This year the Echo Arena Liverpool will host the World Netball Series. IFNA announced the decision today on behalf of the event’s stakeholder group which includes England Netball, Liverpool City Council, Manchester City Council and the North West Development Agency.
The three day competition will commence on Friday 19th November and will conclude on Sunday 21st November with a celebratory Gala Dinner on the Sunday evening. Molly Rhone, President of IFNA commented. “I am delighted to confirm that this year’s World Netball Series will be held at the Echo Arena Liverpool. This event has been fantastic for showcasing the sport of netball and IFNA is looking forward to building on the success of last year’s inaugural event. Spectators will once again be given the opportunity to witness this thrilling Fast Net competition between the top six netball teams in the world.”
The six countries competing in the competition, in IFNA World Ranking order are; Australia, last year’s champions New Zealand, England, Jamaica, Malawi and South Africa. According to the IFNA World Rankings the top teams in the world have shifted slightly with South Africa replacing Samoa. This is the only change to have been made to the top six since last year’s tournament which took place at Manchester’s MEN Arena.
During last October’s three day event, more than 17 thousand spectators attended and an income of over £1.3million was generated. Liverpool City Council is planning to build on last year’s success; Lord Mayor Councillor Mike Storey said of the announcement, “On behalf of Liverpool City Council I’d like to express gratitude to IFNA for choosing Liverpool to host what promises to be a fantastic event. Having recently hosted The Co-operative International Netball Series we’re excited to have Netball return to us here and as 2010 is our Year of Health and Wellbeing we’re also looking forward to working with the event’s stakeholder group to develop the event’s Legacy Initiatives .”
On confirmation that England would host the new competition Manchester launched the initial 2009 event, Liverpool will host 2010 and in the final year for England to host the event, 2011, it will return to Manchester. Since its conception last year the World Netball Series has adopted a legion of fans and the rules of Fast Net, the new format of the game, have been adopted by netball players around the world.
England Netball has taken the lead this year for the commercialisation of the event. Any parties interested in working with England Netball to deliver the commercial objectives of the stakeholder group should contact Joanna Adams, England Netball’s Head of Marketing joanna.adams@englandnetball.co.uk
Tickets for the event go on sale Monday 7th June with 10% discount available for early-bird bookings and 15% discount for England Netball members. To purchase your tickets and for further details visit www.worldnetballseries.com
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