THE country’s first professional netball league was officially launched at a colourful ceremony in Harare amid strict adherence to Covid-19 regulations.
Dubbed the Premier Netball League, the competition is set to provide the much needed competitive platform for the girls and providing a platform for the selectors and scouts to assess talented players to play for the various netball age teams, including the senior national team.
At least 18 clubs have confirmed their affiliation with the new league, including seasoned campaigners, Black Rhinos, Platinum Queens, Harare City, Ngezi Platinum, among other big-name sides.
PNL chief executive, Freedom Tivagare, said the new league wants to transform the landscape of local netball to greater heights.
“This is a platinum premier league which has never been seen before in Zimbabwe. We would like to ensure that the Gems don’t suffer a dearth of players as we will ensure we have a crop of players active in competitive netball at any given time,” Tivagare said.
“The PNL is the first elite netball League to be established in Zimbabwe. It’s a culmination of many months of planning. It will comprise 20 teams that will showcase great netball talent from across Zimbabwe.
“The PNL is a professional league which will not only horn the skills of our netball athletes but will also ensure that Zimbabwe netball remains adept to current world trends. Though in its infancy, this great professional team has had to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, which threatened to derail the launch of this exciting and mouth-watering league.”
The PNL will announce their arrival with a tournament launch scheduled for White City Netball Complex in Bulawayo on September 25. In Bulawayo, 20 teams are earmarked to participate in this tournament before the league kicks off two weeks after the tournament.
“The PNL Tag line says it all. (Promoting Girl child through Sport) with this initiative born of hard and harsh Covid-19 times, we hope to see netball turn into a professional sport as have done several countries so far worldwide,” he added.
“We will run an almost parallel structure to PSL. In this vein, we encourage stakeholders in the corporate world to partner us to ensure the smooth running of this league.”
