The Jamaica Men’s Netball Premiership is scheduled to tip off this Sunday at the Leila Robinson Courts after more than a three-year break influenced in the main by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The competition, which has attracted some of the country’s top male netball players, will see four teams vying for the right to be crowned champions of the country’s most prestigious male competition.

Last held in 2019, the tournament will be played over a four-week period in a round-robin format, and according to Shawn Murdock, organiser of the competition, the teams are “raring to go”.

“I am expecting some good competitions because the teams are raring to go. We have modified the format in terms of the matches because of the budgetary constraints, as we are still in need of funds but we are still working with what we have already,” he said.

“We have gotten support from mainly individuals and persons in the diaspora and we also have some companies on board in the form of product sponsors. The championships is going to be much bigger and we have rebranded, and with the added bonus of the men now getting to play international matches like we did last year at the Americas Championships, I think it is going to be a spectacle,” Murdock added.

The competing teams in this year’s competition are the Spartans, Vikings, Knights and Jaguars. Jamaica Suns Male team won the Americas Netball Championships which was held in St Vincent and the Grenadines last September.

Murdock underscored that the competition will be very intense among the teams because many of the players will be vying for spots on the Suns team for their upcoming tour of England.

“The teams are preparing hard and they are looking forward to the start of the competition. I think it is going to be some ding-dong battles between the teams because most of these players in the league were a part of the team that won the Americas Championships last year, and so we are looking at some tough match-ups,” he stated.

— Robert Bailey