MONTEGO BAY, St James — NETBALL has found a new voice in Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College lecturer Constance Bogle who has called for more equity in the distribution of sponsorship to the various national sports teams.

Speaking recently at the first awards dinner of the St James Netball Association held at the Montego Bay Yacht Club, Bogle pointed to the relative rankings of the national senior netball team and the national senior football team to strengthen her argument for greater support for netball.

“The sport (netball) needs sponsorship, the senior netball team is currently (ranked) third in the world, while the Reggae Boyz are (58th as of December 15th) yet the netballers get very little financial support and there is extensive support for the Reggae Boyz” she asserted.

She insisted that “I don’t begrudge the footballers, but I am calling on the private sector to support the females in their sports; as well-empower our females in the sport so that others may see them shine.”

While acknowledging that netball does not attract the level of spectator support that football does, Bogle said “the fact remains the girls are third in the world, they should get adequate financial support from the parish league upwards.

“Let us not allow our young ladies to sit idly by with nothing to do when they are talented netballers, let us provide an avenue for them to expend their energies and in so doing lift not only themselves and their families but lift our city and our country in the eyes of the world, let us provide an avenue where they are able to positively expend pent up energies,” she said.