2007 Netball World Champs - Perth pips Brisbane

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 6:29 pm

Western Australia has taken one step closer to hosting the 2007 World Netball Championships.

Tourism and Sport and Recreation Minister Bob Kucera announced today that Perth had won the Australian right to stage the lucrative event.

Mr Kucera said Western Australia had beaten Queensland for the national rights to host the event and would now bid on Australia's behalf against Fiji and South Africa.

"EventsCorp, a division of the WA Tourism Commission, together with its partner, WA Netball, have worked together to get us this far and they will continue to work in partnership to make a case for staging the event in WA in 2007," he said.

The Minister said the 2007 World Netball Championships had the potential to attract 2,600 interstate and overseas visitors to WA and generate an estimated $4.8million in direct spending.

"The 2007 World Netball Championships would be contested by competitors from across the world including island nations Samoa and Barbados to larger countries such as England, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States," he said.

"With the 2007-2009 Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships already under its belt, WA is looking forward to the chance to add another stellar championship event to the 2007 line-up."

WA will present its bid to the International Netball Federation (INF) in coming months, with the winning host country expected to be announced this November.

EGANS COMMENT - Western Australia now have the opportunity to host the Netball World Champs, at Burswood, it seems guarnteed considering they are going against Fiji and South Africa. It seems Netball W.A will push safety and security in the bid to get the event, something that sets it apart from the other nations.

argee · Post by **argee** » Mon Aug 25, 2003 2:50 pm

Brisbane misses out once again. Very disappointing. Good Luck Perth!!!

Egan · Post by **Egan** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 12:46 am

Perth misses out on netball title

By David Marsh

NETBALL WA wants to hold an international netball event in Perth in 2007 as a lead-up to the world championship which will be held in Fiji.

International Netball Federation officials and delegates met in Miami at the weekend and voted for Fiji to host the 2007 world title.

Scotland withdrew its bid, leaving Fiji, Australia and South Africa as the contenders.

Netball New Zealand supported Fiji's application to stage the championship at the national sports complex in Suva.

Netball WA officials are shocked and disappointed at failing to win the event.

Netball Australia had already decided that should it win the right to host the event, it would be held in Perth.

"We are very disappointed," Netball WA president Gayle Watson-Galbraith said yesterday.

"It was a shock because we thought that we were well-positioned to win the bid."

Safety and security was a strong point in Netball Australia's bid to host the championship.

The national body was represented at the Miami meeting but Netball WA and EventsCorp, which helped to put the bid together, were not represented.

Netball Australia had advised Netball WA and EventsCorp not to attend the meeting.

Watson-Galbraith said her organisation would investigate the possibility of hosting an international tournament or a Test series in Perth.

"We'll be looking at getting on the international calendar," she said.

"We'll look at what we did for the bid and aim for the 2010 world championships.

"EventsCorp were very supportive of us."

The fact that New Zealand voted for Fiji was not a surprise because the countries are members of the Oceania netball region.

Australia is a part of the Asian netball region.

The world netball championship was held in Perth in 1967.

The only other time the world title was held in Australia was in Sydney in 1991.

WA Sport and Recreation Minister Bob Kucera said he was disappointed that the WA bid was unsuccessful.

Thanks to thewest.com.au for the information, very dissapointing, thanks alot New Zealand.

Jeffles · Post by **Jeffles** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:58 am

Bad luck Egan. Very ocntroversial though.

There has been a push to spread netabll beyond Aust, GB, NZ and South Africa with Jamaica and now Fiji. But damn it I wish Australia coul have a go. I can picture a sellout SuperDome for a Trans Tasman final.

argee · Post by **argee** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:02 pm

I think that Fiji's chances were greatly helped by the success of this years Worlds in Jamaica. With a venue already built, the major infrastructure required is already in place. Unfortunately for Perth, having held it before and also being in a country in which holding such an event would do little to advance the game internationally was too persuasive a reason to give the Worlds to a country that has never held it and one that is in a growth region for the sport. Damn it!

Jayzamann · Post by **Jayzamann** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 7:15 pm

Well, at least it would be held in Australia, that is all that really matters...