ANZ Championship
The ANZ Championship will be a netball competition contested between five teams each from both Australia and New Zealand. It will launch in 2008.
It will succeed Australia's Commonwealth Bank Trophy and New Zealand's National Bank Cup. [1]
In 2008, the league will operate as a 17-week tournament from April to July. [2] [3]
The competition format will start with a four-game "half round" where each team will play the other teams from their country. It will then move into a second round where each team will play every other team in the competition once. [4] Some games will be on Monday nights. [5]
All 69 games will be shown live on Fox Sports in Australia and Sky Sports in New Zealand. Fox Sports has signed a one year deal, while Sky Sports has a three year deal. [6] These media rights are believed to be worth AU$1.5 million. [7]
Teams
According to reports, the likely team list is:
| Name | Organisation/s | 2006 regional population |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney Swifts (incorporating Hunter Jaegers) | Netball NSW | 6,848,825 |
| Melbourne Phoenix (incorporating Melbourne Kestrels) | Netball Victoria | 5,077,729 |
| Queensland Firebirds | Netball Queensland | 4,064,213 |
| Perth Orioles | WA Netball | 2,050,855 |
| Adelaide Thunderbirds | Netball SA | 1,545,188 |
| Auckland Diamonds (incorporating Northern Force) | Netball Auckland Waitakere, Netball Counties Manukau & Netball North | 1,451,538 |
| Wellington Shakers (incorporating Western Flyers) | Netball Wellington, Eastern Netball, Western Netball & Netball Tasman | 1,012,413 |
| Hamilton Magic | Netball Waikato & Netball Bay of Plenty | 640,092 |
| Canterbury Flames | Canterbury Netball | 521,832 |
| Southern Sting (incorporating Otago Rebels) | Netball Otago & Netball Southland | 284,676 |
Population sources: Australia, NZ
Major unallocated territories: Tasmania (490,467), ACT (330,255) and NT (207,186).
This configuration has resulted in the total loss of the Australian Capital Territory's AIS Canberra Darters.
Both Netball ACT [8] [9] and Western Netball [10] were bidding for franchises, though Western Netball later put their weight behind the Wellington bid. [11]
In March 2007, Netball Australia chief executive Kate Palmer has said the preferred model was for one team each from NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia. [12] In April this was confirmed as the composition of the league's Australian teams.
Netball New South Wales boss Caroline Campbell has said she is disappointed the Sydney Swifts and the Jaegars will have to merge. [13]
In March 2007, Netball Victoria president Jenny Sanchez said that she had an open mind about whether Victoria would enter one of the two existing teams or a new franchise. [14] However, by May 2007, the organisation had chosen to enter a single team. [15]
Early in the selection process Netball New Zealand chairman Don Mackinnon said there would be three franchises from the North Island and two from the South Island, [16] and this eventually eventuated. [17]
The deadline for expressions of interest for NZ franchises was April 10, and the teams for the competition were due to be confirmed by the end of April. [18] This occurred. [19]
On October 9, 2007, ANZ Bank was announced as the league's major sponsor for the initial season. [20]
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