Men’s netball on the rise

Johannesburg - When one watches netball, they expect to see women in team dresses with their hair tied up, passing the ball in less than three seconds to get the win.

They don’t expect to see long hairy legs in team shorts and deep voices calling team commands, with a ball in their hand and wearing netball bibs. Yet, this was the South African men’s netball team that represented the country in green and gold at the Americas Netball Men’s Championship, hosted by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

This tournament featured four teams in total (Grenada, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), with South Africa taking two wins over the hosts and Grenada, and a defeat to Jamaica. Known as the Protea Pumas, they are a team of 12 athletes coached by Jabulani Vilani.

At the end of the tournament in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines the head coach of the Jamaica Suns male netball team, Shawn Murdock, told the country’s publication The Gleaner that as guests, South Africa was a formidable team to play against.

“It (tournament) was very difficult because every team brought something different. There were no two teams that were the same but the team that gave us the most problems were the South Africans, who were the invited team because we only won that game by two goals,” Murdock said.

The rise of the Protea Pumas has been driven by one of its biggest cheerleaders, Netball South Africa’s (NSA) president Cecilia Molokwane. She believed it was only a matter of time before South Africa would be regularly represented by both men and women in netball in future international tournaments.

“They said that netball is not discriminative. They said that they want to play, so why not support them? As much they watch the girls, play with them and make them strong, they need to have that free will of saying ‘we can play netball, we can be recognised and that we belong’,” Molokwane said.

In the lead-up to the inaugural Americas tournament, the Pumas played several matches against the Spar Proteas women’s team earlier this year and had experience from another tournament that the country hosted in 2021. NSA hosted the International Male Netball Tournament from 15 to 21 September – which featured South Africa (winners of the tournament), Uganda and Kenya – at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria.

When she took the mantle as president and reviewed the state of men’s netball, Molokwane felt it necessary to prioritise and change the narrative around men’s participation in the sport.

“I came in here and said I wanted to change the narratives. I know it meant a lot to them to say at least we work hard, at least we play hard and at least we go the extra mile and are recognised on our own. There is nothing more fulfilling than being recognised by your own,” Molokwane said.

The team is led by Shiko Mokaila (33), a man not only dedicated to the team but also passionate about the sport. Mokaila has been playing netball since he was 12 years old. He improved his skills by attending training sessions with women’s netball teams because no netball clubs were catering to boys in his age group.

“We’ve got one rule book and the notion is that men play differently and there is nothing like that. It’s only that guys are physical but I will tell you, some ladies are more physical than men. But at the end of the day, we learn skills from them,” he said to SuperSport.

The men’s team has been in development since 2019 and under the leadership of the NSA president and Vilani, in the hopes of becoming a strong opponent against teams like Jamaica, England, Kenya, and Australia. As one of the heavyweights in the sport, it only made sense that South Africa had a men’s team to compete at the international level.

One of the players, Ashwin Bosman, told New Frame that netball’s perception as a women’s sport and the inclusion of men would be seen as taking another sport away from women. He argued that their inclusion spoke to the growth in visibility by netball federations.

“What made it uncomfortable was being judged by your peers and how people would look at you. It’s the way people have conditioned their kids’ minds. That’s why netball was never seen as a sport for all genders,” Bosman said.

“The rest of the world is still warming up to the idea, still trying to see what the male format of netball will look like. Do we coexist with the female format or does one format drown out the other? I think that the powers that be feel that we could overpower female netball.”

The team’s growth has managed to grab the attention of the country’s fanbase, the Department of Sports, Arts, and Culture (DSAC), and the global men’s netball community in support. As opposed to the leadership preceding Molokwane, male netball players now have the chance to play in competitions from district to club to provincial and national levels. Much is yet to come in terms of development.

Molokwane said that another part of the push is due to the rules set by the Commonwealth and the Olympics committee to recognise netball as a sport in future games. Both organisations require both male and women athletes for the sport to be recognised at the games respectively.

“I know that for the Commonwealth starting in 2026 if you don’t have males, you are not going to be able to compete for the Commonwealth. So, no one should discriminate against anyone now, and the main thing is for us to teach the people that there is no harm in accommodating the LGBTQ and others from the sport,” she said.

The NSA has succeeded in elevating Shiko Mokaila’s name as a passionate captain, much as they did with Bongiwe Msomi (as the Protea’s captain) and the team’s return to top-flight form. The journey for the Protea Pumas to become a powerhouse netball team will be a fascinating one to watch.