The Black Sox fight to reclaim the world title
The Black Sox have won silver at the Softball World Cup. The team has long been a dominant force in the sport, having won the Men's World Championship a total of seven times, becoming World Champions for the first time in 1976. NZ Softball Hall of Famer Jarrad Martin talked to Jesse.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
8 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
All Blacks v France live Q&A: Liam Napier answers your questions following 3-0 series win and the looming Rugby Championship
After a three-test series sweep of France, it appears All Blacks coach Scott Robertson has a lot to consider before he picks his squad for the Rugby Championship. The next embark on two tests in Argentina before hosting the World Cup winning Springboks at Eden Park and Sky Stadium.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Several Silver Ferns likely to test new eligibility policy
The Silver Ferns beat Australia in October's Constellation Cup. Photo: Marty Melville Analysis - Top Silver Ferns will be keen to test Netball New Zealand's new eligibility framework , with at least half a dozen likely being chased by coaches in Australia's netball league. The Netball New Zealand Board has updated its Silver Ferns' eligibility criteria, paving the way for greater flexibility for athletes who wish to play overseas. Pressure has been mounting on the national body to relax its rules after shooter Grace Nweke decided to compete in the Australian league , which ruled her out of playing for the Silver Ferns this year. But athletes will now be considered for Silver Ferns' selection through a formal exemption process under revised criteria, which appear to be open to interpretation. There are no guarantees that Nweke will get an exemption to play for the Silver Ferns later this year when they meet South Africa and Australian in separate test series. But Netball New Zealand Board chair Matt Whineray said a holistic approach will be taken when considering each case. It would not be surprising if Silver Ferns Kate Heffernan, Maddy Gordon, Kelly Jackson, and Karin Burger are being pursued, as well as captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio. Maddy Gordon. Photo: PHOTOSPORT The Queensland Firebirds, who are coached by New Zealander Kiri Wills, finished with the wooden spoon in this year's Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) competition. Wills will be eager to make some big recruitment moves in the next few weeks. Whineray said it had taken the board some time to review the policy as it worked through "different interests across the system", including the thoughts of the Silver Ferns' coach. The old policy was designed to encourage the country's top netballers to play in the New Zealand domestic league, so it remained strong. "What we are trying to do is balance a bunch of interests here so how do we maintain the integrity of that domestic competition, how do we respond to the aspirations and development desires of our Silver Ferns and how do we think about putting the best Silver Ferns team out on the court, so it's a culmination of all those things that we are looking to balance," Whineray said The increasingly global landscape in elite netball also factored into the decision. The Australian league attracts some of the best players in the world. England's Super League is also going from strength to strength. "This recognises that global competition for talent and that's what you see is driving some of those interested players to play in these other competitions." Australia's SSN competition pays the best. Currently the highest paid Silver Ferns can earn around $136,000, which also includes their ANZ Premiership retainer. If you take away the ANZ Premiership component then the optimum earnings for the highest paid Silver Ferns is in the vicinity of $70,000. RNZ understands that international defenders can earn around NZ$120,000 in the SSN, while midcourters are signed for about $100,000. If players are given exemptions, overall they would be better off financially once they received an SSN and Silver Ferns retainer, where they could make as much as $190,000 per year. In terms of any specific criteria, Whineray said number of Test caps won't come into it. "No there isn't and there hasn't been in the past, I know that was the narrative that it was 100, that just happened to be the number of Tests previous players who had received exemptions, had played. "What this criteria does is allow us to make sure the players fully understand the decisions they are making, it allows us to have the conversations with them in terms of their growth and development and their existing Silver Ferns' development plans. "It allows us to consider the needs of that high performance system and then thinks about how we think about the strong and sustainable domestic competition. So we've got all of those in the mix and the balance of those so it's a broader range of criteria - before there were none, there were no explicit considerations and now we've got them." Talented goal keep Kelly Jackson. Photo: PHOTOSPORT Whineray said the process for applying for an exemption will be handled quickly so players can make decisions about where they will play next year, with the season about to wrap. "We'll be very responsive with this process, we need this process to happen in a way which enables contracting to happen so our approach is to be quick in response to any of the players and we will start having those discussions and then we will consider them as a board." Silver Ferns' coach Dame Noeline Taurua has supported Nweke's decision to play in Australia in an effort to improve her game. Dame Noeline has spoken about the need for New Zealand's top players to get more international exposure if they want to be competitive. Netball New Zealand is still working on signing off on a broadcast deal for the 2026 domestic competition. There is a risk players will have to take pay cuts if the national body can't get a deal similar to previous years. But Whineray said that was not a factor in relaxing the eligibility rules. "It isn't a factor in this, this has been under consideration for a little bit longer but what I can say in relation to the ANZ Premiership next year is that that will be going ahead, we have the balance sheet capacity to make that happen so that's what we are planning to do." Grace Nweke joined the Swifts this year in Australia. Photo: Jason McCawley / Getty Images Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
Silver Ferns eligibility criteria to be relaxed
Netball New Zealand has announced that the Silver Ferns eligibility criteria will be relaxed. That means star shooter Grace Nweke might be able to play for the Silver Ferns later this year, despite playing in Australia. Sports reporter Bridget Tunnicliffe spoke to Melissa Chan-Green. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
