Tapping into the American market would help spread the sport of netball across the world and would increase the sport’s chances of securing a place on the Olympic programme, England coach Tracey Neville has claimed.
Netball has never been part of the Olympics but the sport was recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2005 following an extensive period of lobbying.
The International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) is a member of the 35-strong Association of IOC-Recognized Sports Federations (ARISF) and would be eligible to bid for a place at the Games.
The IFNA did apply for Olympic inclusion at Tokyo 2020 but they failed to make the final shortlist.
IOC President Thomas Bach claimed last year that he was keen to help all ARISF members get as much exposure as they could, including on the IOC's proposed new Olympic TV Channel, in an attempt to help their development.
Neville, however, feels “not enough countries” are playing the game worldwide for the sport to warrant a spot at the Olympics.
“The challenging thing for us is that not many nations, especially in the USA, really play this game,” Neville, whose England team won a Bronze Medal at the 2015 Netball World Cup in Australia, told insidethegames.
“What would be really pleasing for me is that if I know if we were accepted as an Olympic sport, I know that more nations would be playing netball and that can only be a positive for netball in itself.
“A lot of it is financial, there are now a lot of projects that are financing these African countries, doing a lot of work with European netball, building those partnerships up and the biggest one would be the USA."
The United States are currently ranked 25th in the world below St. Lucia and the Cook Islands, but they are ahead of Bermuda who are ranked 31st.
“Women’s sport is dominated by basketball in the States and it’s how they change that mindset that actually netball can be a big sport," said Neville.
“The Americans have the money to do that - it’s just whether they feel netball is worthy of that financial contribution and I do think it is.”
The sport is enjoying a growth in global support following the success of last year’s World Cup, won by hosts Australia.
It has been a part of the Commonwealth Games programme since Kuala Lumpur 1998, where Neville was a member of England’s bronze medal-winning team.
“We push every year to be recognized as an Olympic sport,” Neville said.
“I do think it would be a great spectacle.
"When I see the team sports that are being advertised at the Olympics I think we can replicate some of the attributes that they have."
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