First vice-president of Netball Jamaica (NJ) Simone Forbes says the association is still some way off its $50-million budget to offset the cost of sending for the senior Sunshine Girls to represent Jamaica at the 2023 Netball World Cup, thus triggering another plea to government and corporate Jamaica to aid the process.

The 16th staging of the Netball World Cup will take place at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, from July 28 to August 6.

Jamaica is among 16 countries that will be participating in the Netball World Cup, including number one-ranked Australia, number two-ranked New Zealand, number three-ranked England, and number five-ranked South Africa. Jamaica’s best finish at the Netball World Cup was third in 1991, 2003, and 2007. Australia have won 10 times and New Zealand five.

The number four-ranked Sunshine Girls are drawn in Pool C, which features South Africa, Wales, and Sri Lanka. Pool A consists of Australia, Tonga, Zimbabwe, and Fiji; Pool B will be contested by England, Malawi, Scotland, and Barbados; and New Zealand, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, and Singapore will battle in Pool D.

“Well, we need $50 million to get the team to the World Cup. In terms of how much we have already, we don’t have any right now because the thing is, we have to prepare the team; we have to pay the bills for preparation.

“Even though we have got some sponsorship and there are some commitments for sponsorship, some of them we don’t have yet, and so we are waiting on those to see where we are,” Forbes told the Jamaica Observer.

Forbes said while NJ will do some fund-raising events, they are relying on the assistance of the Government and corporate Jamaica for the Sunshine Girls to go to the World Cup.

“There are some plans that we have in place to fund-raise; to do some fund-raisers to launch the World Cup and hoping that through that we will be able to put some money in the coffers, but we are going to depend heavily on the Government of Jamaica to assist us as they always do and corporate Jamaica.

“We will have to get there if we want to get to the World Cup. If we don’t get it, we can’t go, that’s the reality, and South Africa is so far away, which is why it costs so much. The last time I checked the ticket from Kingston to Cape Town, it was $411,000.

“It [the ticket] dropped on Thursday, February 9, at $378,000, and that is just the airfare, and that doesn’t include accommodation, meals, or clothes, and so on,” Forbes, a former Sunshine Girls captain, explained.

Forbes, who was a part of Jamaica’s two bronze medal wins at the 2003 and 2007 World Cups, said that playing at netball’s global showpiece is what every netballer dreams of, and so it will be stiff competition for players securing their spots in the final squad.

“World Cup is the thing for any netballer. Playing in the World Cup is what you want more than anything else, and so the girls who have it will do everything to make the team, and I am sure the new players will also want to make it.

“The World Cup is like the football World Cup for the footballers; that is what it is for netballers. As a result, some netballers, or the majority of us, look forward to the World Cup more than any other tournament. If you go to a World Cup, it is a big deal,” said the 41-year-old Forbes.

While Forbes said that not all players will make the World Cup squad, NJ is committed to continuing to develop the players and the sport across the island.

“Every girl would want, every female would want, every female won’t. But Jamaica is not just about the World Cup or just about the Sunshine Girls or even just about the national programme, it is about netball in the country.

“And so there is a development of females, not just as netballers but just overall, and so it is important for us to have a programme in place to make sure that netball across the island is not only developing netball players but developing young women. Whatever programme we have in place, that is what we hope to achieve,” she ended.