By Daraine Luton, Staff ReporterOUT-GOING NATIONAL netball coach Maureen Hall on Sunday lashed out at the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) for the way in which umpires were appointed for games at the just concluded 11th Cable & Wirelesss World Netball Championships held here in Kingston.
"It is an insult when IFNA and their representatives are saying to me that the only people that can umpire this game now are Australia and New Zealand... it is an insult to the rest of the 22 teams that are competing in this tournament," Hall said.
Jamaica's Sunshine girls, like other teams, suffered from umpiring decisions which could have gone other way.
Many netball fans were left with the view that Jamaica's not reaching the finals was choreographed. When the girls met the then-world champions Australia in their last Group A game, two New Zealand umpires were in control of the game. The significance then was that if Jamaica lost to Australia then New Zealand have been their opponents in the semi-finals.
It happened that Jamaica lost the game by five points and New Zealand were Jamaica's semi-final opponents. At this stage Jamaica went down by 19 goals. In that game wing attack Simone Forbes was questionably made to sit out two goals by one of the two Australian umpires in control of the game.
Noting that she was not speaking in the capacity of coach, Hall said she understood that the rationale behind using that pairings of umpires in the crucial games was directly related to the 'quality' of the umpires. However, what was staggering about Sunday's final between the two powerhouses is that an English and Barbadian umpire controlled the game.
Not surprisingly Hall warned; "This game netball is going to die if IFNA believes that only Australia and New Zealand can play and only Australia and New Zealand can umpire, it will soon be dead."
On April 1, 1997 IFNA introduced an international umpiring award aimed at improving and standardising umpiring wherever netball is played. At present there are 28 international umpires; two Jamaicans, two Bajans, four Australians, nine New Zealanders, six English and one each from Northern Ireland, Scotland, The Cook Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and South Africa.
Umpiring was not the only area Hall felt needed to be addressed. She stressed that IFNA will have to help their member countries to develop coaches.
THE SPORT IS GOING TO DIE
"If we don't invest in our coaches then the sport is going to die," Hall told reporters during one of her final rites as coach of the Sunshine girls.
At present there is a large gap between the top five teams in the world (New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica, England and South Africa) and the other teams. Owing to that, the bottom teams continue to perform poorly when they match up with high quality opposition. This has led to suggestions that the competition be reduced from the present 24 to 16 teams.
However, according to the former-centre court player Hall, investing in coaches is the only way to improve the standard of these teams. Similarly, when these teams begin to show signs of improvements, corporate enterprises will begin to invest in netball.
