Ex internationals Gretel Bueta, Maria Folau out to ‘revolutionise’ netball with short-format concept
They were trailblazers as players and former netball stars Maria Folau and Gretel Bueta are again breaking ground in the sport with a short-form tournament they want to take global.
They’re two of the biggest names in the history of trans-Tasman netball and Gretel Bueta and Maria Folau are breaking new territory in a format of the game they want to take around the world.
Folau and Bueta’s inaugural Fire5 tournament will be held on the Gold Coast at the weekend, with competing teams packed with former Silver Ferns and Diamonds clambering to take part in the innovative event the pair hopes can be a template for future success.
Plenty are familiar with the five-a-side version of netball generally termed Fast5, although World Netball has recently parked its global tournament as it chases Olympic inclusion and a biennial World Cup.
In building their version of the game, Folau and Bueta have introduced prize money and rule changes in a tournament that has attracted widespread attention and sponsorship and will be broadcast globally through a subscription model to create a commercial product they believe can help spread the netball gospel around the globe.
“Fast5 was my favourite tournament playing,” said Folau, the wife of Australian footballer Israel Folau who played much of her career, including most of her 150 Tests for the Silver Ferns before retiring in 2019, as Maria Tuta’ia.
“I know this sounds weird but like I felt like (Fast5) was the only way I could express myself. I could actually shoot outside of the circle which is what I always wanted netball to include.
“You see all these hybrid versions of all these different sports that are being created and I just always wanted to create something different.
“I thought that this was the right time to come back and create something that I love, do it with someone that I love, and make it our own.”
Both international shooters who revolutionised the game - Folau with her spectacular outside shooting and Bueta with the lay-ups and improvised shooting born from a basketball background - the pair wants to do the same for netball, adding rules including the ability for players wearing the centre bib to shoot, power plays and shots from outside the circle, in a tournament with cash on the line.
The inaugural tournament will be held at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre this weekend, with players including former Silver Ferns Laura Langman, Katrina Rore, Casey Kopua and Cat Tuivaiti and ex Diamonds Kim Ravaillion, Kim Copeland (Green), Nat Butler (Medhurst) and April Brandley, while newly inducted Sport Australia Hall of Fame member Laura Geitz will be commentating and Silver Fern Whitney Souness will DJ.
With the help of commitments from various sponsors, the pair has been able to put $44,000 on the line, including $20,000 in the grand final, for the inaugural tournament, with the aim to grow both the purse and the number and location of tournaments.
“That’s definitely the goal, and that’s what excites us,” former Queensland Firebirds and Diamonds goaler Bueta said of the chance for growth and even the possibility that players could eventually earn an income from the short form of the game as they have in formats like WBBL and WPL cricket and Unrivaled 3x3 basketball.
“It hasn’t been done in the sport before, and the girls deserve it,” Bueta said.
“Everyone plays netball for the love of it ... but to be able to monetise it, that’s what we wanted to create and it’s been awesome. And this is just the beginning.”
The event is currently a business for Folau and Bueta, who do not shy away from the fact that they are deriving an income from it given it’s currently their full-time job and a product they want to continue to build.
“We’re not governed by associations or companies or businesses. We get to do something freely on our own and create the netball product that we believe in and revolutionise the game,” Folau said.
“Netball has been in that stagnant position for so long, it’s not a global game.
“We want to take it global, to countries that don’t play netball, like China and India and Asian countries.
“So this isn’t just an Australian, New Zealand, UK, South Africa thing, this is something way bigger and netball deserves that.”
In a sport in which there are currently only 80 full-time contracts at the professional level - with 25 per cent of those taken up by imports - the tournament has also attracted not only former stars but rising ones as well, hoping to make their mark and perhaps attract the attention of one of the many highly-connected women in the room.
“I’ve got some young girls really excited for that opportunity to be seen and we’ve got a fair few state league coaches playing and coming - and it’s live streamed worldwide, so anyone can tune in and watch the product,” Bueta said.
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