Mary Waya amongst 2 other African analysts for SuperSport’s exclusive coverage of 2023 Netball World Cup
Malawi’s celebrated netball legend, Mary Waya will be joined by former veteran African players from Uganda and Zimbabwe as among top analysts for the 2023 Netball World Cup to be hosted by South Africa from July 28.
This is the first-ever Netball World Cup to be hosted by Africa and Waya — who has played more than 200 matches for Malawi — is joined by Ruth Meeme, who represented Uganda at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups, and Perpetua Siyachitema, who captained Zimbabwe at the 2019 Netball World Cup.
A statement from MultiChoice says analysts will include former internationals from top netball countries such as New Zealand, Australia, England and Jamaica while Anna Stanley (New Zealand), Madison Browne (Australia), Pamela Cookey (England) and Simone Forbes (Jamaica) will join SuperSport as host broadcaster for the event.
Seasoned broadcasters Jenny Woods, Caroline Barker and Sue Gaudion will also be in the mix as says SuperSport’s coverage will be anchored by top-rated Andee Mahamba, with a range of top local guests, all of whom represented the South African netball side, the Proteas.
They include Vanes-Mari du Toit, Amanda Mynhardt, Zanele Mdodana, Nontle Gwavu, Simi Mdaka and Mampho Tsotetsi and with matches being played at two venues at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, presentations will take place from the arenas and will include live build-ups, halftime chats and match summaries.
The statement further says apart from regular commentary, a second analyst will supply courtside sideline commentary while the second analyst will be positioned in close proximity to the teams during the game to ensure insightful input and will also engage with the mic’d up coaches while play is happening.
“The goal is to give the viewer the opportunity to listen in on team chats and huddles during breaks. Flash interviews at halftime and at the back end will also feature to add depth to broadcasts.”
“When the Netball World Cup begins, FIFA Women’s World Cup coverage will take priority on the “Here for her” channel, which is dedicated to women’s sport — a special initiative from SuperSport intended to empower, recognise, and celebrate women achievers in sport.”
The statement adds that SuperSport its ambitious plans is to ensure the most exciting, varied and technologically advanced tournament in netball history backed by an all-women production crew — a world first, which will include live broadcasts of all 60 matches, including those played simultaneously.
Among the 16 participating teams in Cape Town will be hosts South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Malawi, ensuring a powerful African presence. Malawi Queens open the campaign in Group B on July 28 against Scotland, followed by England the next day and Barbados on July 30
The group preliminaries will be followed by stage two preliminaries (from July 31) before the playoffs (August 4 and 5) and the placement matches, culminating in the August 6 final.
The first preliminaries will be played by four groups of four teams with the top three from each progress to the second preliminaries stage, which will have top three teams from groups A and B forming group F; top three from groups C and D forming group G.
The bottom four finishers from groups A-D will compete against one another in group E and if teams in groups F and G have already played each other in the preliminaries stage one, these results will carry through to preliminary stage two.
Playoffs
The teams finishing 3rd and 4th in groups F and G compete for final positions 5th to 8th; 3rd in one group plays 4th in the other and the winners play off for 5th place and the losers for 7th.
The teams that finish 5th in groups F and G play off for 9th and 10th places while those that finish 1st and 2nd in group E play off for 13th and 14th place with teams that finish 3rd and fourth in group E play off for the 15th and 16th places.
The teams finishing 1st and 2nd in groups F and G go through to the semi-finals and the top placed team in each group faces the second-placed team in the other group.
The teams finishing 1st and 2nd in groups F and G go through to the semi-finals with the top placed team in each group faces the 2nd placed team in the other group while the winners of each semi-final compete for gold in the final with the losers playing for bronze.
MultiChoice says as host broadcaster, SuperSport will also be responsible for the world broadcast feed, which will be taken by, among others, Sky UK, Fix Australia, the BBC, Sky NZ, Astro (Malaysia and Brunei), EmTV (Papua New Guinea), Flow Sports (US territories) and Fiji TV.
“The all-female crew for the Netball World Cup has undergone extensive and rigorous training, under the supervision and leadership of Industry experts, equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge to successfully produce the event.
“Training modules included event management, broadcast production, technical operations, and logistics planning. Inclusive and empowering environment was a major theme at Supersport.
“Consequently, preparation for the World Cup has fostered an inclusive environment, promoting diversity and equal opportunities for women in the sports industry. The crew members have been encouraged to excel in their roles, enabling them to showcase their talent and contribute to the success of the event.”
Apart from traditional linear television and streaming coverage, SuperSport further says there will be an all-encompassing digital offering via web and app that incorporates news, fixtures, results, tables, top scorers, highlights, articles, data and statistics, video coverage, podcasts and vodcasts; all designed to ensure wall-to-wall coverage day and night.
The digital video offering will highlight magazine shows, daily wrap-ups, analysis pieces, talent features, build-ups, player profiles and assorted other content geared to reflect the stories of the event.
Channels and packages
DStv
• Variety 3 (HD) will be a dedicated ‘Here for Her’ channel from Monday, July 17, where all African teams will be shown on channel number 228 in Africa and 208 in Nigeria.
• Variety 3 focuses on the best of African teams at the Netball World Cup.
• All African teams’ matches can be found on the Access package.
• Simultaneous NWC matches can be found on Variety 4.
However, in the event of African team matches for the Netball World Cup or FIFA Women’s World Cup clashing with each other during the events, the alternate channel for the NWC will be Variety 4 in Africa and 209 in Nigeria.
GOtv
Aligned with GOtv, Select 1 becomes a ‘Here for Her’ channel from July 17 on the Plus package (channel 163). However, in the event of African team matches for the Netball World Cup or Football World Cup clashing during the events the alternate channel for the NWC will be Select 2 (channel 164).
Ahead of the Netball World Cup, Malawi maintained its 6th position in the rankings which are led by Australia followed by New Zealand on 2nd, England on 3rd, Jamaica on 4th and South Africa 5th.
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