As we head towards the sixteenth year of the Vitality Netball Superleague, the UK's elite netball competition has come a long way and done much to raise the standard of the sport across the country. With the new season coming off the back of a recent gold medal finish at the Commonwealth Games, and a significant increase in international appetite for netball leagues outside Suncorp Super Netball, there has arguably never been a more exciting time for netball in the United Kingdom.

More people than ever are looking to tune into our sport, and yet for so many this is almost impossible to do. Following opening weekend, the Superleague fixture abruptly drops back to just one televised game a week, while geoblocking renders the competition all but inaccessible to the potential international audience. 

This wasn’t always the case, and following the start of this petition in 2019, international viewers were for one season able to access the league. It brought in new viewers and helped people become more invested in the sport and teams involved. With recent major international signings, fantastic club social media campaigns and a growing desire for netball played without SSN’s new rule changes, it’s entirely possible that viewership could see a dramatic increase in the post covid environment if given a proper chance.

Here in Australia, our Suncorp Super Netball competition makes use of the fantastic Netball Live app; allowing us to stream and play back every single game of the season for a relatively modest subscription fee. Even international viewers are able to use the service!

It shouldn't be so difficult to access Superleague games; not for fans, and certainly not for anyone wanting to see growth in the sport. It's time to look at how we can stream the Netball Superleague to ensure it reaches the widest possible audience. 

Netball should be for everyone. Whether its on an app or web-based, we need a proper streaming service in place for England's Superleague.