Trans-Tasman board general manager Tony Holding says talks with the New Zealand Players' Association have not "stalled" but confirmed that the contentious import rule was still "a topic for discussion".
It shouldn't be.
The TT board should increase the number of imports allowed in each team to three, adding the proviso that two must have New Zealand residency, unlike Wellington Pulse's English defender, Sonia Mkoloma.
It's obvious why that franchise wanted her: Central netball hasn't had a pulse for years and needed an ER-PR boost.
Yet a loyal servant like former Wellington Shakers captain Frances Solia is on the outer because she played for Samoa at November's world champs. And standout Northern Force shooter Catherine Latu is in the same outrigger.
Holding and his board maintain that the one import rule will prevent a flood of foreigners (Aussies, Jamaicans and English) taking the place of Kiwi players. Fair enough. But why penalise Pacific Island stars after the decades of service they have given netball here both at the elite level and, more importantly, at the coal face.
Names like Margharet Matenga, Rita Fatialofa and Vilimaina Davu hold special places in the game here. As in rugby and league, Island players are interwoven into the rich cultural fabric of Kiwi sport.
Holding still hopes to have a collective contract in place by Christmas. That's five working days. Santa Claus will also rock up to his place with a shiny Aston Martin.
Respected former Silver Ferns defender and current Samoa coach Linda Vagana calls the current one-import ruling "stupid" and it's hard to argue when we're living in a multi-cultural country where there are scores of international-class netballers and only one team to play for the Silver Ferns.
That may change at the next world champs, when Aotearoa Maori hope to have a team accepted, but a sprinkling of NZ-based netballers turning out for their spiritual Pacific Island homes has been vital for the world champs over the past decade, saving them from a complete meltdown. Wales versus Botswana, anyone?
The delay has angered all five Kiwi franchises, who argue that fringe players fighting for contracts in the new restricted market are being mucked around badly.
The first game is scheduled for April 5, when the Pulse host Sharelle McMahon and the Melbourne Vixens.
The Aussies, who have had a players' agreement for 12 months, have named their five squads and, as they go to the holiday break with training schedules locked in, they must be laughing like kookaburras at our tweety birds.
It shouldn't be.
The TT board should increase the number of imports allowed in each team to three, adding the proviso that two must have New Zealand residency, unlike Wellington Pulse's English defender, Sonia Mkoloma.
It's obvious why that franchise wanted her: Central netball hasn't had a pulse for years and needed an ER-PR boost.
Yet a loyal servant like former Wellington Shakers captain Frances Solia is on the outer because she played for Samoa at November's world champs. And standout Northern Force shooter Catherine Latu is in the same outrigger.
Holding and his board maintain that the one import rule will prevent a flood of foreigners (Aussies, Jamaicans and English) taking the place of Kiwi players. Fair enough. But why penalise Pacific Island stars after the decades of service they have given netball here both at the elite level and, more importantly, at the coal face.
Names like Margharet Matenga, Rita Fatialofa and Vilimaina Davu hold special places in the game here. As in rugby and league, Island players are interwoven into the rich cultural fabric of Kiwi sport.
Holding still hopes to have a collective contract in place by Christmas. That's five working days. Santa Claus will also rock up to his place with a shiny Aston Martin.
Respected former Silver Ferns defender and current Samoa coach Linda Vagana calls the current one-import ruling "stupid" and it's hard to argue when we're living in a multi-cultural country where there are scores of international-class netballers and only one team to play for the Silver Ferns.
That may change at the next world champs, when Aotearoa Maori hope to have a team accepted, but a sprinkling of NZ-based netballers turning out for their spiritual Pacific Island homes has been vital for the world champs over the past decade, saving them from a complete meltdown. Wales versus Botswana, anyone?
The delay has angered all five Kiwi franchises, who argue that fringe players fighting for contracts in the new restricted market are being mucked around badly.
The first game is scheduled for April 5, when the Pulse host Sharelle McMahon and the Melbourne Vixens.
The Aussies, who have had a players' agreement for 12 months, have named their five squads and, as they go to the holiday break with training schedules locked in, they must be laughing like kookaburras at our tweety birds.
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