EDITORIAL: Now’s the time to back netball in Tanzania

Morogoro’s Jamhuri Stadium recently hosted the Union Netball league that saw JKT Mbweni win the title.  The tournament offered plenty of entertainment for netball fans, especially now that both the Tanzania Mainland Netball Association (Chaneta) and its Zanzibar counterpart, Chaneza, are winding up their annual sports calendars. The thrills and spills notwithstanding, both Chaneta and Chaneza have experienced difficulties staging the event without support. All eight teams that featured in the tournament incurred costs during the 10 days of the competition.

This is a poor showing for sports development in the country. In contrast, football enjoys the support of many firms, making the game competitive even though we have yet to shine on the international pitch. Since the 1980s, Tanzania has not taken part in the Africa Cup of Nations or World Cup qualifiers since the 1980s. Yet Chaneta and Chaneza proved that Tanzania can make a mark after winning a silver medal in the All Africa Games in Mozambique in 2011.

Besides the lack of sponsors in local competitions, Tanzania’s youth teams also failed to compete in the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) held in Botswana--another blow to the country. Netball needs support from the corporate sector. Football enjoys good sponsorship all the way from youth to senior teams, with lucrative packages.

Airtel Tanzania, sponsors of the Under-17 Airtel Rising Stars tournament, have shown that it is possible to invest in football and stage a decent tournament. Things may not be at their best at TFF but, with a special committee comprising sports officials with vast experience in managing youth competitions, there is little chance that money will be misappropriated.

It is high time companies supported netball, which is second only to football in terms of popularity.