Brutal Fruit Netball Cup Countdown Begins

There is just 10 days to go to the opening day of the most hotly anticipated event in women’s sport — the brand new Brutal Fruit Netball Cup!

From May 10 to June 8, 120 of South Africa’s best netball players will descend on Pretoria to represent their provinces in Africa’s first ever semi-professional tournament. The Brutal Fruit Netball Cup, presented by Netball South Africa in association with Brutal Fruit, was unveiled earlier this month, and is a game changer for women’s sport in South Africa.

“The excitement is building up and there is so much expectation from the netball followers and fans via social media. We at Netball South Africa are not at all surprised by the hype as this tournament has been a long while coming,” said Netball SA president Mimi Mthethwa.

“The teams were selected following rigorous trial process held across the provinces, where the most talented players were selected. We can promise that the Brutal Fruit Netball Cup will be a spectacular showpiece the likes of which have not been seen on homes soil.”

Women sports’ hottest property will feature 10 teams from the nine provinces divided into two divisions — a Cup and Shield competition within a promotion / relegation league format.

Division One includes the Golden Fireballs and Jaguars from Gauteng; Free State Crinums; Eastern Cape Aloes and North West Flames. Division Two will feature the Southern Stings from Western Cape; Kingdom Stars from KwaZulu-Natal; Limpopo Baobabs; Mpumalanga Sunbirds and Northern Cape Diamonds.

“As players we are ecstatic, for every player it’s an answered prayer and a beginning for great things to come for netball. All the teams are strong and it’s going to come down to who wants it the most. We can promise that the action will be intense and we are going all out to win it,” said SPAR Proteas star Zanele Mdodana, who will represent the Eastern Cape Aloes.

For 2014 edition of the Brutal Fruit Netball Cup, all the matches will be played at the Rembrandt Hall Sport Centre at the University of Pretoria Sport Campus over consecutive weekends starting with round one on May 10 and 11. Most of the matches will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

To join the conversation: visit facebook.com/netballsa and twitter.com/netball_sa and have your say.

Photo Caption: The 2014 Brutal Fruit Netball Cup logo

(With editing by gsport)