The International Netball Federation (INF) has declared the two newly refurbished Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) netball courts unfit for international competitions, two days after hosting the African Netball Associations (ANA) Championships.
INF Africa regional development manager Joan Smit told Nation on Sundayon Thursday the facility has been disqualified because the markings on the courts are too close to the terraces and their surfaces are too hard.
She, however, said they allowed the African Championships to take place on one of the courts, which is better off than the other, because they know that lack of proper netball infrastructure is a big problem in most African countries.
The development has unmasked communication gaps that existed among the Sports Council, Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) and INF prior to the renovations that cost taxpayers K9 million.
According to Smit, spacing between netball court markings and the terraces has to be at least three metres apart, but the BYC courts pavements are only 1.7 metres.
Smit said on Thursday: “For the moment, we have held the continental championships on one of the courts, but it would be impossible for these facilities to host international competitions in the future if they are not redone. They are probably only fit for domestic matches.
“The small pavement between the courts and the stands can be dangerous to both players and umpires who can sustain serious injuries after falling on the terraces.”
When asked why her body did not visit the facilities before they were constructed, Smit said that they believed Malawians were conversant with required standards for netball courts considering their vast experience on the international arena where they are the best on the continent and number five in the world.
While admitting that the council has no money to immediately reconstruct the courts to the required standards, Sports Council executive secretary George Jana said the mishap could have been avoided had the three entities communicated properly.
“I would attribute the problem to lack of communication among council, NAM and INF. For example, when we started the renovations, nobody from NAM or INF came to advise us on the specifications for the project.
“Reconstruction of the facilities will be costly and I do not think that this would be done any time soon,” he said.
NAM president Rosy Chinunda pushed the blame on Southern Region sports development officer and Malawi Queens head coach Griffin ‘Zagalo’ Saenda, who, she said, they expected to guide the constructors of the courts.
But Saenda said he could not properly monitor the project as he had no new written INF rules that explain the specifications on how a standard netball court must look like.
“At the time of the renovations, I had not seen the newly released Ifna law book that contains the pattern for a proper netball court. Worse still, no official from Ifna came to guide us on the matter,” he said.
Nevertheless, Chinunda and Saenda said they are happy to have at least a nice-looking venue for domestic competitions.n
