The woman who captained the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games netball winners fears for the sport after Victoria pulled the plug on hosting the 2026 event.
Ama Agbeze, who led England team to 2018 gold, and played for a string of Australian club sides, says the news was “shocking”.
State premier Daniel Andrews announced Victoria was pulling out of hosting the event on Tuesday, citing rising costs.
As netball is not an Olympic sport, the Commonwealth Games and the quadrennial World Cup are the pinnacle and showcase for a sport that has featured in every edition since team events were introduced in 1998.
“It has massive implications (for netball),” Agbeze, who played for teams based in Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin during her career, told the PA news agency.
“I hope that someone else might be able to step in this late in the day and says, ‘OK, short notice, but what can we do to make it happen?’
In 2021, World Netball announced its intention to make a case for inclusion at the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.
It is an ambition Agbeze believes could take a significant step back should Tuesday’s announcement lead to the cancellation of the 2026 Games.
Agbeze, who sat on the organising board for last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, said: “It’s imperative that netball can be seen at multiple-sport events.
“When the Commonwealth Games are on, there’s more eyes on the sport.
“There’s a bigger lens for people to see the sport and engage, so if netball does want to be in the Olympics, showcasing the sport at the Commonwealth Games is a massive plus.
“To not have a large event except every four years is just detrimental to the sport and I think probably the sport will lose lots of people who potentially would go on to play at the top level, but also who would start playing at grassroots level.
“Obviously if there is an impact at grassroots level that impacts the top level anyway, so all around it’s detrimental for the game.”