SVG opts out of AFNA tournament, again

St Vincent and the Grenadines, once again, will not be participating in this year’s Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) tournament, slated for Calgary, Alberta, Canada from August 19-29.{{more}}

Confirmation of this came from president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association Dellarice Duncan in a brief interview with SEARCHLIGHT recently.

“We definitely would not be going… Again it is because of finances,” Duncan said in a regretful tone of voice.

“We did have some fund-raising ventures, but they were poorly supported … The cost is totally beyond us,” Duncan reported.

“Too, following the December floods, we knew that things would have been tight with some of our major sponsors,” she added.

Duncan revealed that it would have cost her association in excess of $100,000 to participate in the tournament.

Her pronouncement came against a promise made last year at the closing of the LIME National Netball Club Tournament.

“ … Come next year, we are hoping to participate in the AFNA qualifiers in Canada …. We look forward to the support of you, our affiliates and the general public as we embark on an aggressive fund-raising campaign,” Duncan said then at the Kingstown Netball Centre.

St Vincent and the Grenadines was among several countries from the Caribbean and North and South America, who were invited to be part of the Canadian sojourn, which will be used as a qualification for the 2015 International Netball Federation (INF) World Cup set for Sydney, Australia.

Argentina, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Grenada, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States were also invited to participate.

St Vincent and the Grenadines also opted out of the 2012 tournament staged in Trinidad and Tobago, because of financial constraints.

The last time St Vincent and the Grenadines participated in the AFNA qualifiers was in 2010, when the tournament was held in St Lucia.

The non-participation of St Vincent and the Grenadines in such tournaments has meant that this country does not have an INF world ranking.

INF stipulates that netball playing countries must play a minimum of eight matches during the rating period, inclusive of two matches against a ranked team at the senior level, in order to be listed on the rankings table.

Additionally, if a team has played fewer than eight matches, they will still have a rating, but without a corresponding ranking.

Currently, St Vincent and the Grenadines falls into the rating system.(RT)