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The schedule for the 2022 Super Netball season has avoided the staging of Saturday afternoon fixtures which have often previously clashed with grassroots leagues.

The change in match schedules removes a conflict that has been identified as holding back the elite league, with Saturday afternoon fixtures having not allowed community level participants and stakeholders the option to attend or watch on TV live.

The 2022 Super League schedule moves away from 3pm starts on Saturdays in favour of matches predominantly at 5pm and 7pm. It will also see the grand final played at night, for the first time since 2017.

Releasing the fixture list last week, Super Netball’s Executive General Manager of Events and Commercial, Adam Richardson said the timing change was an acknowledgement of the importance of the sport’s traditional fans and advocates at the community level.

He said one of the key criteria in negotiating the season’s fixtures - which meets 85% of all specific requests from clubs - was the needs of the tens of thousands of Australians who play netball, an obvious untapped market for the league.

Richardson advised “the new time slots will make Super Netball more accessible to fans across the country, with community players able to attend or watch the netball after their matches during the day.

“We absolutely have heard (fan requests) and the introduction of 5pm and 7pm time slots is a real testament to that.

“Saturday is still a space we unequivocally want to own and we’re confident we can do that in those primetime slots.”

The later Saturday games - to be broadcast live on Fox Sports through Foxtel and Kayo, two each round for free - will see netball go head-to-head with several other major sporting codes, including the AFL and NRL.

Richardson noted “we are unbelievably proud and overtly confident in our product; that it stands up under any scrutiny.

“It’s the best netball league in the world, with the best players in the world and the pre-eminent watched female sport in this country.

“We should not be at all concerned how we position that in the market. We know where we stand and we’re up for the challenge,” he said.

On the back of several “very well received” midweek games in season 2021, Tuesday and Wednesday fixtures will again feature in 2022, with Richardson saying the midweek fixtures provide a chance to attract a “broader fan base”.

The sixth season of Super Netball, which marks the start of the league’s new five-year broadcast deal with Foxtel, will begin on Saturday 26th March and conclude with a grand final on Saturday 2nd July, just 26 days before the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham - a pinnacle event for the sport internationally.

There will again be themed matches in 2022, including several to honour the 25-year anniversaries of the Swifts, Vixens, Thunderbirds and Firebirds in early April.

The controversy-plagued Indigenous round has been rebranded to First Nations round and will be held across rounds 12 and 13 in late May and early June.

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