24 Sep 2019

Seven Batswana out of nine netball umpires recently attended Netball South Africa Men’s National Netball Championships to seek international grading.

In an interview, regional officiating coordinator Africa, Neo Gwafila-Bulayani, who led a nine-men delegation to the masterpiece, said Africa Netball, wanted to increase its umpire representation in the International Netball Federation (INF) system.

She said the idea was to keep upgrading umpires to higher grades so that they had presence in the netball world stage.

She said they passed both the theory and practical on court and were graded throughout the championship, where 38 very competitive men’s teams from South Africa participated, adding that the games were challenging and needed the umpires to show grit.

Gwafila-Bulayani said this shows growth in the netball fraternity, because in terms of match officiating, the talent base in Africa was developing.

“We are very proud of the new grading as this adds the African talent into the Networld, one of the objectives of Africa Netball,” she said.

The seven umpires from Botswana are, Karabo Merapelo, Olefile Letsholo, Kamogelo Sebilo, Obuile Ramosesane, Stanley Modibedi, Kagiso Phoko and Larona Matlhaga. Abiel Lekulo is from Lesotho, while Gabriel Simion is from Zimbabwe.

Merapelo put up a sterling performance that saw him earning an Africa A grade outright at his first trial.

For umpires to get into the INF online system called Networld, they need to attain their international grading status at which point they are regarded as INF Umpires and can be appointed to international matches.

The championships were held at Peter Mokaba Stadium Netball Courts in Polokwane, South Africa from September 16-21. Ends