1 year ago
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CHAIRMAN OF Netball Jamaica’s (NJ) Competitions Management Committee Dwayne Gutzmer said the start of the organisation’s Divisional Club League was a success as the 80-team competition tipped off at the Leila Robinson Netball Courts on Saturday.
The league’s format will see 80 teams placed within three divisions based on their level of competition: Major League, Intermediate League, and Minor League.
Gutzmer explained the preliminary round would be used by the management committee to accurately assess the teams and place them in their respective divisions.
“Right now, we are in the preliminary round and what happens now, after this month, we will put the teams in the respective divisions,” the competition’s chairman explained.
“What is happening now is the committee is looking at the level at which these teams are playing, the players that they have and the combinations that they do, to put them in the particular leagues. So the preliminary round is being used for seeding them into the next round.”
Gutzmer explained that the Major League division had already been decided with 10 elite teams identified by the committee before the start of the competition.
He explained that to be placed in the Major League, a team must consist of more than four current or former national netball players.
For the remaining teams, they will be contesting for the right to be placed in the Intermediate or Minor Leagues.
“It all depends on the level that the teams are at. Some teams are at the Major League, which means they have national players or former national players. Then for the Intermediate, those are the players with some skill but are not at the major or elite level,” Gutzmer explained.
“For the Minor League, that is for the juniors, the players who are just starting out and the players with the lower-level skill set,” he continued.
Opening ceremony
The current preliminary round will see the 10 Major League teams split into two groups of five while the remaining 70 teams have been spread across 10 different groups.
Gutzmer said after the preliminary round, the competition will then host its official launch and opening ceremony for the three leagues.
“The official launch will be in a month’s time when we have placed all the teams in the correct divisions,” he said.
“That is when we will have the opening ceremony and the official launch. But Saturday’s opening, we would deem it as a success. We had over 32 games played and almost all the teams who were scheduled to play turned up.
Gutzmer said based on the public’s response to the start of the preliminary round, he is confident the competition will be well received.
The Leila Robinson Netball Courts had seen a large number of spectators turn our for the competition, which Gutzmer attributed, in part, to the recent success of the Sunshine Girls.
“The fans have indicated that they are excited about this period and it is coming on the heels on what we have seen happening with our Sunshine Girls. We are grateful and happy that the turnout that we saw was phenomenal and also the involvement of these 80 teams suggests that we are heading in the right direction.”
The competition’s schedule is set to see game days each Saturday.
English (US) ·