ANZ Premiership netball final to go ahead behind closed doors in Invercargill

The final of Netball New Zealand’s 2020 ANZ Premiership will go ahead at ILT Stadium Southland tomorrow - but just 300 spectators fans will be present.

The fixture, which will see defending champions Central Pulse meet first-time finalists the Mainland Tactix, will be the sole game of the series, with no other games of the finals matches to be played.

With the final round robin games of the competition also called off due to the COVID-19 Alert Level 2, just 300 spectators will be in attendance for the game.

This will include New Zealand Minister of Sport and Recreation, Grant Robertson.

Netball New Zealand Chief Executive, Jennie Wyllie said there was never any consideration given to moving the grand final away from Invercargill, despite neither of the grand finalists being from the region and no fans being allowed into the stadium.

Wylie explained “there's no reason to relocate the final, we needed to be able to consider every element, not just the location of where the teams came from, so ultimately we're really happy with our decision.

"It still is really important for netball to be visible around the country and I think it will remain really important for them to be down there under level 2 restrictions and to be visible in that community as well."

All six ANZ Premiership teams were originally supposed to play in Invercargill tomorrow.

The Northern Stars and Northern Mystics were going to playoff for third and the Steel and Waikato/BOP Magic for fifth.

However, the Coronavirus restrictions saw the schedule disrupted, with one factor being the  Auckland-based Stars and Mystics being prevented from travelling to Invercargill.

The Magic decided also not to make the trip.

A curtain-raiser will now be played between two invitational teams, one coach by Steel co-captain Gina Crampton and the other coached by fellow co-captain Te Huinga Selby-Rickit.

Image: ILT Stadium Southland in advance of tomorrow's ANZ Premiership decider.