Commonwealth Games Draw Posted

A draw for the Commonwealth Games has been posted ahead of the October games in Delhi.  There will be 12 teams contesting medals from two pools.

Pool A has Australia and Jamaica in it and Pool B which we are in has New Zealand and England.  Our first match of the tournament will be against New Zealand which should be a wake up call for the Pepe's but there after we have to play South Africa, Barbados, Cook Islands and England.

In Pool A you have Australia, Jamaica, Malawi, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and India.

The top 2 teams from both Pools advance to the finals and medal playoff.

The Pepe's make history in October when they walk out onto the court in Delhi.  It will be first time any Papua New Guinean Netball Team has been invited to the Commonwealth Games and one of only a handful of team events.  It will be a momentous occasion for PNG Netball and we should all be getting behind our Pepe's to encourage them in their Games campaign.

(above) Candidates for selection 18th April 2010

To put things into perspective we know that each of the top ten teams of the world receive substantial government funding assistance to maintain their ranking, even Samoa and the Cook Islands receive funding we as a country only dream about.  Resources such as the Australian National Sports Institute provides incredible inovative clinical and sports medicne support to ensure they get maximum utility out of their players and then there's the professional and corporate backing that makes the sport so competitive in countries like Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Jamaica and so on.

Fiji,. the Cook Islands and Samoa benefit from inter country exchange programs where the elite of our neighbouring Pacific Island countries play in professional or semi professional competitions across the Tasman.

Jamaica and other Caribbean countries also enjoy similar programs with England and the African states.  More recently Singapore is reported to have signed an agreement with Netball Australia to assist in the development of their players and resources and last week, the Australian Government extended assistance of AUD$2.95 million for the development of netball in the Pacific. That agreement was signed by Oceania Netball president who is based in the Cook Islands. 

We have none of these development resources.  No bilateral arrangements, no fancy support industry and a pittance when in comes to government assistance.  Yet by sheer will power and self belief we are ranked in the worlds top 12 and with this opportunity comes a footstool to possible greatness.

(above) PNG v Scotland

WE SHOULD ALL BE PROUD OF PNG AND SUPPORT THE PEPE'S IN THEIR MARCH TO RECOGNITION AT THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES.

THE FIRST STEP IS THE PACIFIC NETBALL SERIES IN JUNE IN THE COOK ISLANDS AND THEN WE PREPARE FOR THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT BY ADDING A COMMENT AND LETS LET THE PEPE'S KNOW WE WILL BE THERE FOR THEM, NO MATTER WHAT.



Attached are links to details of the Commonwealth Games which the PNG Netball Federation has extracted for your use and links to the IFNA website.  Times, venues and the reciprocal details in PNG time have been also included.

PNG Netball Federation link to the Delhi Games Netball Draws
IFNA Confirms Commonwelath Games Netball Draw