SA Netball goes professional with Brutal Fruit

Netball South Africa recently announced the launch of the first ever semi-professional netball league in Africa, in association with title sponsor, Brutal Fruit.

At a special event on 15 April 2014 in Johannesburg, Netball South Africa announced some exciting news: a partnership with SAB and Brutal Fruit that will positively impact women’s sport in South Africa over an initial period of five years. For SAB and Brutal Fruit this means the opportunity to support the advancement of women‘s sport as part of our commitment to contribution to society.

The Brutal Fruit Netball Cup: A game changer

The Brutal Fruit Netball Cup will involve teams from every province in South Africa. It takes up a position at the summit of Netball SA’s elite domestic programme which includes the SPAR National Championships, the Fast 5 Netball National Series, as well as the management and development of the SPAR Proteas and SPAR u/21 Proteas national teams.

SAB’s Executive Director of Strategy & Business Support, Yolanda Cuba, was at the official announcement:  “We believe it is critical that we play a major role in re-dressing the gender discrepancy in sports sponsorship, to ensure that women enjoy a more equitable share of support and we are delighted with the opportunity to be part of Netball in South Africa, ” she said.

Netball SA President, Mimi Mthethwa, said of the tournament: “It ensures that [women] are also given opportunity to grow in sport and become role models and true ambassadors of the country. Netball is played by the masses and is the only real access to physical activity and engagement for thousands of women and children.”

The tournament

From May 10 to June 8, 2014, 120 of South Africa’s best netball players will descend on Pretoria to represent their provinces. The 10 teams will be divided into two divisions - a Cup and Shield competition within a promotion or relegation league format.

The teams are as follows:

Division One

• The Golden Fireballs and Jaguars from Gauteng;
• Free State Crinums;
• Eastern Cape Aloes and
• North West Flames.

Division Two

• Southern Stings from Western Cape;
• Kingdom Stars from KwaZulu-Natal;
• Limpopo Baobabs;
• Mpumalanga Sunbirds and
• Northern Cape Diamonds.

Details

All matches will be played at the Rembrandt Hall Sport Centre at the University of Pretoria Sport Campus over consecutive weekends starting with the first round on May 10 and 11 May.

Additional partners of the Brutal Fruit Netball Cup include Tsogo Sun Hotels, Gilbert, Mitre, Powerade, People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) and Sascoc.

Netball fans

Are you a fan of the game? Catch the action live on SuperSport, where most of the matches will be broadcast. Visit the SuperSport website  for scheduling details.

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DID YOU KNOW

SAB has supported both local and international football for 54 years, including the sponsorship of Bafana Bafana since inception, the longest uninterrupted sports sponsorship in the country.