Call for new format for World Netball Championships

In the aftermath of Australia's success at the World Netball Championships, Australian Coach Norma Plummer has suggested that the tournament needs an overhaul to ensure each of the four elite teams meets each other at least once in future editions of the quadrennial event.

Plummer suggested a two-division competition to replace the current World Cup-style system that includes group games, quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final.

Australia, beat the three other members of its pool to reach the last eight, and then played played fourth-ranked Jamaica in its semi final, while top-ranked 1 New Zealand and third-seeded England played in the other.

The seedings and tournament results dictated that Australia did not play England while New Zealand did not play Jamaica. If there had been a semi-final upset, the Diamonds and the Silver Ferns would not have met at all.

As Plummer explains "I'd rather see the top eight teams have to play one another.

"At worlds in 2007, we didn't play Jamaica and New Zealand didn't get to play England, yet England had beaten the Ferns during the year. So I think you've got to play all your top teams, because we're not like soccer that has so many European countries that are all up against each other all the time. We really need to see the best on the best at the world championships.

"It should be two divisions, and the one that finishes on the top of the bottom eight get to challenge the bottom of the top eight for a play for the next world champs or something, because teams change over the four-year cycle."

Netball Australia Executive Director Kate Palmer has backed Plummer's view that the top ranked nations should meet, saying that it was imperative from a commercial and broadcast perspective to maximise the number of 'blockbuster' games.

Palmer explained "I support Norma absolutely. I know she'd love to have a go at everyone."

Sydney will host the next World Netball Championships in 2015 with the format for the event to be discussed at the International Federation of Netball Associations congress in the coming weeks.