On Saturday night, all eyes were on Netball SA Stadium for Super Netball's round two match between the Adelaide Thunderbirds and NSW Swifts.

The Thunderbirds are expected to reach the finals of the national netball league for the first time since 2013, after snagging the biggest buy of the off-season – English import Eleanor Cardwell.

The power Cardwell, as well as Jamaican imports Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson have to pull a crowd is evident, as the team's first home game of the season sold out at its 3,200 capacity days before the match.

The Thunderbirds had also deemed the night as "Member Recognition Round", hoping to celebrate their loyal following that have stood by them throughout almost a decade of bottom-ladder finishes and unfulfilled potential.

Some of these faithful remember the Thunderbirds early years when they reached seven grand finals – six of them in a row – and secured the premiership twice between 1997 and 2006.

Then there was the trans-Tasman championship era, where they made it through to three grand finals and clinched two more titles.

Now the state finally has a team that looks like it could live up to this history of success, with real ability to challenge the current heavyweights, West Coast Fever and Melbourne Vixens, for a shot at their first Super Netball crown.

But their stadium facilities remain a relic of those past glory days, with some locals likening it to a "glorified tin shed", leaving the club well-behind the standards expected in the modern-day game to deliver a professional sports product.

The knock-on impact of a delayed start

The first issue of the night presented itself in the form of the decals on the court, which had to be ripped up and re-laid shortly before the first centre pass.

Both teams had trained on it within 24 hours before the match and players had reported a difference in the playing surface, with Helen Housby later telling Fox Netball it felt "grippier".

Sure enough, closer inspection by the league revealed that the decals (laid by a Netball Australia contractor) had more of a matte finish compared to the rest of the surface (lacquered by Netball SA), and they had also started to bubble and lift off the court.

It was important this was rectified as athlete welfare is paramount and Netball SA Stadium has a history of ACL injuries, but whether it could have been done earlier in the day is the question that will likely lead the joint investigation now being conducted by the state and national body.

Speaking on the Nothing But Net…Ball podcast, Adelaide-born Swifts defender Sarah Klau – who was actually marking her 100th Super Netball cap – told her version of events.

"We received a phone call on our way to the game and our coach Briony Akle came in and said she was feeling nervous because there had been issues with the stickers on the court.

"Normally the finish of the court is consistent, and Briony herself has actually done an ACL on that court, I think in total there's been 11 ACLs done on that court, so I think once they raised that … you can't put yourself at risk.

"It was a lot of pressure for Briony to make that decision, I don't think it was fair, lucky the Netball Australia integrity team were there to support the process, but essentially it wasn't worth the risk, and we said we weren't happy.

"It's just disappointing because it was brought to someone's attention earlier in the day … and could have been resolved … hopefully it is a big learning curve, and it doesn't happen again."

The match was delayed by an hour to fix the decals; unbeknownst to the long line of fans that were waiting outside the stadium.

Rod Hook, the inaugural chair of the Thunderbirds and a former public servant was one of the spectators lining-up to be let in.

"Eventually some young women started to move down the line and say, 'We're very sorry, there's been an issue on the court, we expect to be opening the doors in another quarter of an hour', and look the crowd was really good, no one was jeering or abusing them.

"We just accepted it, but I certainly wouldn't have left my car without a hat if I knew I was going to stand in the sun for 40 minutes or so.

"I'm not sure why we had to stay outside and why we couldn't sit in the stands, because we weren't going to go on the court anyway."

Hook spent eight seasons as chair of the Thunderbirds in their foundation years, is a stalwart of the Contax netball club and is well-remembered for his work as the state's former head of the department of planning, transport and infrastructure; delivering the Adelaide Oval upgrade in 2014.

These days, his ties to the Super Netball club are purely as a fan, attending the matches on a three-game membership with his wife, daughter and granddaughter.

Unfortunately, once the four were finally inside the stadium, they only got a chance to watch half a game's play before the match was abandoned due to a high-voltage power outage.

Game abandoned due to power outage

The first two quarters between the Swifts and Thunderbirds had been hotly contested, and the sides were locked at 25 apiece heading into the main break. This is where the result will stand.

Although there was still enough electricity being fed to the stadium to power some of the LED lights, overhead spotlights, and lights within the corridors for people to see well-enough to get around, the brighter overhead flood lights that are required for broadcast were out of action.

A call to the relevant power company revealed it could take hours to fix the issue, and with the little-known rule that Super Netball requires its matches to be played within a 120-minute time frame – likely a hangover from the previous free-to-air deal, with tighter broadcast windows – the match had to be abandoned and the points shared.

This follows the league's protocols that if a match is unable to be finished before or after half-time, then it must be declared a draw. However, had the players got out for a third quarter before the high-voltage power had blown, the leader would have claimed victory.

This may have major implications for teams' goal percentage as we reach the pointy end of the competition. The Swifts know this all too well, after missing the semi-finals last year by just one goal.

According to former Super Netball statistician, Michael Hutchinson, this is just the second time in the 26-year history of the national netball league that a match has had to be abandoned due to a stadium issue.

Other sporting codes have also been affected by power outages in recent times. Coincidently, the Brisbane Lions and Melbourne Demons experienced this in the AFL match played at the Gabba just 24 hours before the netball.

The difference with the footy, is that the AFL had better protocols in place to get the game back up and running after a 38-minute stoppage. They also didn't have to contend with the added pressure of a delayed start.

This power outage at Netball SA Stadium will also form part of the national and state netball bodies investigation into the events of Saturday night.

Disappointing end for fans, big stadium problems 

Overall, it was a disappointing ending for the members that were supposed to be the focus of the game, as well as ticket-paying fans, who at this point, look like they won't be refunded.

Hook, personally, said he was happy with the two quarters he did get to see and that the night points to a much larger issue than just disgruntled spectators.

"I'm not going to be writing asking for a refund and I don't want to be critical of Netball SA because I think it's one of those things that happens, so we'll move on, I look forward to the next game.

"There's been a lot more effort put into facilities for tennis and basketball in this state than there has for netball's headquarters, so we've still got a very old, tired stadium that requires work to bring it up to 2023 standards."

Netball SA Stadium is owned by the state government and leased to the netball body. It features four indoor courts and 28 outdoor courts that accommodate the Thunderbirds, a premier league competition, an Adelaide metro league and about 3,000 other people every weekend during winter.

The other venue fit for netball in the city is the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, where the state's elite basketball team can house roughly 10,000 fans.

Just like netball in other states, these bigger stadiums can be in high demand around music concerts and other events. They can also be costly to hire, which makes it harder for clubs to generate the sort of revenue to make it worthwhile.

Just one of the Thunderbirds' matches will be played at the Entertainment Centre this season in round 13 during the June long weekend, while the rest of their five remaining home games will be held at Netball SA Stadium.

Even if the $622 million-dollar stadium proposed by the liberal state government ahead of last year's South Australian election had gone ahead, it likely would have still been in the building stages and unavailable for netball to utilise in 2023.

At least if that had been signed off on, the Thunderbirds would have an obvious solution to look to in the future. Instead, the incoming Labor government threw out the plans and decided to prioritise that money for healthcare issues.

Netball SA Stadium now waiting for upgrade

Looking back, Hook believes he was probably the last person who managed upgrade works for Netball SA Stadium, some seven years ago.

He put together a business case that proposed at least $23 million was needed to bring the stadium up to a professional standard. In the end, $6 million was paid to Netball SA and Hook managed the works from 2016 through to 2018.

The plan was less focused on increasing the seating capacity of the venue, and more on developing basic facilities, as there was a common consensus that Adelaide still needed to build a multi-sport inner city stadium that netball and basketball could share.

"We reconfigured the car park, increased its capacity and resealed the surface; redid all of the change rooms, upgraded the Thunderbirds rooms with ice baths and a players' lounge, fitted ice baths in the opposing teams' rooms, and also made sure that we built enough change rooms for all Premier League teams; upgraded the public toilet facilities inside and out; and added a new entrance with turnstiles that brought us into the 20th century," Hook said.

"So we did all of that with our $6 million, but it still needs a lot more money invested, at the moment you have to queue to get to the canteen across the entry, which is a pretty unfortunate design, and lot more needs to be done in that area in terms of hospitality … tables, chairs, office facilities, first aid facilities … I had all of this listed in the original business case, but we only got $6 million."

Hook believes there is still plenty that needs to be done, and although there were talks of more funding coming Netball SA's way, is yet to see any of it put into construction works.

Over the last couple of years $18 million has been promised to the state sporting body to help upgrade their facilities at Mile End ($12 million from the state government in 2020, another $6 million from the federal government in 2021).

The ABC reached out to Netball SA to get an update on this and was told that there are plans being put into place behind the scenes, however, they are confidential. A relevant statement could not be provided before publication.

"What is needed now is work on the canteen, bar area, merchandising area and general public facilities – you could move the office and make it a better area for the public as they come in," Hook said.

"They need better corporate facilities and some modest efforts should be made to also increase the capacity of the facility ... At the moment you've basically got a western stand and an eastern stand, then a northern stand that you wheel out, each of these have the capacity of about a thousand.

"I think there's a real opportunity to work on the southern end, even at a higher level and in the wings to increase the seating capacity by another 500 or so without too huge an expense."

The Thunderbirds are due to play at their home venue again within the next fortnight, on April 9, as the rest of the netball world waits to hear the findings of the sport's investigation.