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Posted: 2023-08-18 09:09:54

Almost a fortnight ago, the Diamonds lifted the Netball World Cup for a 12th time, pinching back the title at the tournament held in Cape Town, South Africa.

No other team has come close to winning the trophy that many times. Yet despite Australia's success and netball's dominance as the number one Oceania women's team sport, you could be forgiven for missing their campaign altogether — such has been the country's obsession with the Matildas run at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

As someone that covered the national football side and the old W-League closely in her early years in the industry, it's been amazing and rather emotional to arrive home and see the extent of support the Tillies have received.

It's all anyone can talk about.

Doesn't matter your age, gender, religious or cultural background. The diversity of people wholeheartedly invested in this team is seriously impressive.

Record-breaking crowds and ratings are just one measurement of the tournament's impact, with its real legacy expected to be felt through a boost to grassroots participation and increased investment in elite women's football over the coming years.

Off the back of this, a whole generation of Australian children are going to want to be Matildas when they grow up, which is a wonderful thing.

But what does that mean for netball?

Fans watching the game.

The Matildas have attracted huge crowds at this FIFA Women's World Cup.(ABC News: Brendan Esposito)

Make no mistake, this article is not going to buy into code wars. It is possible to be well and truly on football's bandwagon and still be disappointed in your first love at the same time.

The best thing for the next generation is that there are choice and rapidly changing attitudes towards women's sport.

For that, the successes of the Diamonds, Matildas, Australian women's cricket team and more feel like part of the fight for a greater good, with each helping the other.

As some sort of unspoken collective effort to better sport for women in this country, considering we're all fighting similar battles for recognition and equality.

Through success, these women have forced people to pay attention and have pressured governing bodies to ensure there are greater standards and pathways for girls to pursue any code they like.

What that also means is more competition than ever before for participation numbers and talent retention.

GettyImages-1405724267

Are these our next Matildas stars?(Getty: Robert Cianflone)

So, how will that affect a sport like netball with smaller resources, less male participation, no Olympic presence, and a dwindling chance of retaining its place at a second major tournament, now that a) it's no longer a compulsory Commonwealth Games sport, and b) the Games look like they're on their last legs?

As is the case for many Aussies, I grew up playing netball because my mother, friends and peers did.

It was encouraged at school, and back then felt like one of the only places girls could be taken seriously in a team sport that was made for women by women.

What kept us around as we got older was the love of the game, the competitive nature and the friendships we made along the way. But the reason we took it up in the first place and perhaps its ongoing dominance in this country, could very well be attributed to tradition and cultural norms.

As the years have worn on, netball's greatest power as a sport focused entirely on lifting women up could play a major role in its downfall.

Australian netballers embrace in celebration on court after the end of the Netball World Cup final.

The Diamonds are the world's number one netball team, while the Matildas are ranked 10th in the world for football.(Getty: Ashley Vlotman)

The other main codes popular in this country have had men's sport to help fund their presence in a crowded market, and the more they catch on that women's sports can also be entertaining and profitable with the right support, the more netball is starting to lag behind.

There are genuine fears for those that love the game that if it doesn't become more commercially progressive it could be overrun completely.

Netball Australia and the Australian Netball Players' Association are currently at loggerheads over pay, as negotiations for the next Super Netball collective player agreement drag into the off-season.

Two Jamaican players hold the Super Netball trophy

Netballers come from all over the world to compete in the Super Netball league, where the minimum salary is $43,000 and the average minimum salary is $74,000.(Getty: Graham Denholm)

Super Netball still boasts the best contracts around the world for a domestic netball league, but due to its recent financial struggles, Netball Australia says it cannot afford to offer its stars the pay rise or revenue-sharing model they desire for at least another three years.

If nothing changes on this stance, then the athletes will need to sit tight as other codes surge ahead.

Overseas, Sam Kerr reportedly makes $600,00 a season with Chelsea in the Women's Super League, while each of the Matildas are set to receive between $246,000 and $270,000 in prize money for their role at this FIFA Women's World Cup depending on where they finish on Sunday.

In comparison, the Diamonds will receive no prize money for their role in Cape Town. With all this in mind, it seems fair to suggest netball did itself a disservice hosting its World Cup alongside FIFA's.

The Netball World Cup began long before FIFA's – 60 years ago – but both sports synced up when football launched its first tournament back in 1991 and they are typically hosted in the same window.

July to early September seems to be the sweet spot, where netball has held 14 of its 16 World Cups and football has staged six of its total nine.

Ash Gardner hitting cricket ball in the nets. she wears her green and gold training clothes.

Beyond football, Australian cricketers are also seeing a rise in pay. Ash Gardner was snapped up in the Indian WPL auction for $558,000.(Credit: Commonwealth Games Australia)

Despite this, an overlap has surprisingly only happened three times throughout history, and you could argue the last time it happened, 12 years ago, that women's football was operating with a level nowhere near the global interest it has today.

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