Marva Bernard, president of Netball Jamaica, said her team is $10 million short of the $63 million required for the Sunshine Girls to attend the Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia, in August.

“We haven’t reached our target as yet and what we are going to do now is to recast the budget, but there are some new expenses coming up that we have to deal with. We are about $10 million short of the original budget of $63 million,” Bernard told the Jamaica Observer at a cocktail reception at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel on Tuesday evening.

“Australia is not next door and it costs a lot. We have to pay for gear, transportation, meals, accommodation, umpires, etc, which is a very formidable task. Two important contributors to the success of the team at the World Cup will be energy and support of the nation as well as the financial resources,” the president added.

According to Bernard, the Gold Rush Down Under campaign was launched to raise awareness and garner the necessary funds to achieve their objective.

“While we have committed corporate partners, we are challenged with raising sponsorship due to Jamaica’s economy, the ‘femaleness’ of the sport and the grassroots background of our players. This has not deterred us. In fact it has inspired us to embark on an intense fund-raising drive to raise necessary funds to support our Girls,” she said.

“We are knocking on every door to raise sponsorship and reaching out to all Jamaicans, individuals and companies, local and overseas, to help us get a foot up on the awards podium. We ask for your contribution for our Sunshine Girls, who only want to be judged by their past results and their future potential,” Bernard added.

Bernard was heartened by the support from Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited, who has committed $3 million to Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls for the upcoming World Cup.

“We have come a far way and feel honoured that Sagicor sees the commitment we have for the sport. This gesture emphasises that it takes teamwork to achieve. Our team is bigger than the Sunshine Girls, and we welcome all Jamaicans to be a part of this hard-working team. The Sunshine Girls are among the top-ranking teams in the world and we intended to make Jamaica proud at the World Cup,” she ended.

–RUDDY ALLEN