This is the biggest netball competition at club level and will also feature men’s teams for the second time in history. We will be represented by two men’s teams.
This year’s East African Netball club championship is scheduled to take place from March 22 to March 31 at the National Stadium. The competition will feature 21 teams from Uganda, Kenya and host Tanzania.
This is the biggest netball competition at club level and will also feature men’s teams for the second time in history. We will be represented by two men’s teams.
But despite the Tanzania Netball Association’s brave move, the organisation now faces a big challenge raising funds to run the competition effectively. Chaneta needs Sh250 million to facilitate the competition, which is just around the corner. Yet no firm or individual has stepped forward to sponsor the nine-day competition.
The only way to secure the competition and make all Tanzanians proud is to support Chaneta effectively. Now is the right time for our sports stakeholders to show the stuff they are made of and inject money into the game. If we do not, we will have to live with the humiliation of being the country that put on a sub-standard show at a time we desperately needed to put our best foot forward.
Tanzania has not hosted the regional netball competition for a long time, leaving Uganda and Kenya to dominate the game in the region. We do not want to fade off the picture in this day and age.
Hosting a competition like this will help us develop the game locally and hopefully rise to international standards. Sad to say, Tanzania is below the qualifying level for the Commonwealth Games.
Tanzania is ranked 17th in the final ratings. We need to change that status--and that means investing in netball in a big way. Half measures simply will not do.
