ANZ Premiership

The ANZ Premiership is the premier domestic netball league in New Zealand. The league was formed in 2016 as a successor to the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship, which was held from 2008 to 2016. The ANZ Premiership is contested annually by six teams based throughout New Zealand,[1] with a total of 47 games played over 14 weeks.[2] Since its inaugural season the league has been sponsored by bank ANZ, hence the league's name.

ANZ Premiership
Most recent season or competition:
2020 ANZ Premiership season
SportNetball
Inaugural season2017
MottoMade From More
No. of teams6
CountryNew Zealand
Most recent
champion(s)		Central Pulse (2020)
TV partner(s)Sky Sport
Sponsor(s)ANZ
Official websiteanzpremiership.co.nz

The inaugural season of the ANZ Premiership was played in 2017, with the Southern Steel emerging as champions.

History

Origins
See also: ANZ Championship

The league was launched by Netball New Zealand as a successor to the ANZ Championship,[3] a Trans-Tasman netball competition that was contested by five Australian teams and five New Zealand teams starting from 2008. The ANZ Championship saw netball reach the status of a semi-professional sport in both countries, with players making significantly higher salaries than in previous competitions. Over the course of nine years Australian teams dominated the ANZ Championship, winning eight of the nine seasons played. The final season of the ANZ Championship was held in 2016.

Foundation

Australia and New Zealand subsequently announced separate leagues to commence in 2017. The Australian league was announced in May 2016 as "Suncorp Super Netball",[4] while the New Zealand league was announced in July 2016 as the "ANZ Premiership".[5] Six teams were announced for the new ANZ Premiership, including the five New Zealand teams from the ANZ Championship plus a new team based in wider Auckland.[1]

The inaugural season commenced on 26 March 2017. The Southern Steel progressed through the initial round-robin stage of the 2017 season undefeated to emerge as minor premiers.[6] The Steel also advanced through the finals stages undefeated, winning the grand final against the Central Pulse to become inaugural champions.[7] The 2018 season commenced in May 2018, starting later in the year than the previous season due to the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.[8] The start of 2020 season was postponed for two weeks due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.[9]

Each team under the ANZ Premiership Eligibility Rule is entitled to contract one athlete who is ineligible for New Zealand as per INF Eligibility criteria.

The Southern Steel and Central Pulse are the most successful teams in the competition, each having won two premierships.

Format

The ANZ Premiership operates as a 14-week tournament with 47 matches during the first half of the calendar year. The round-robin stage last for 13 weeks, which is followed by a two-game finals series in the final week. Often the season follows a pre-season tournament. In 2017, the official pre-season was held at Te Wānanga o Raukawa Campus in Otaki, with all six teams competing in the tournament between 10–12 March.[10]

Each team plays fifteen games over thirteen rounds. This is achieved by having three Super Rounds (rounds 1, 6, 11) in which five games are played as opposed to the traditional three. During a Super Round, all 5 games are played back to back at one venue.[11] Games throughout the season are held on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays.

During the round-robin stage, each team plays every other team three times, accumulating points throughout the regular season. Each win is worth 3 points and a bonus point is awarded if a team loses by five goals or less.

In the finals series, the 2nd and 3rd-ranked teams on the points table play off in the Elimination Final. The winner of this plays against the Minor Premiers (the winners of the round robin stage) in the Grand Final.

Teams
Teams in the ANZ Premiership
Team Colours[12] Established Base Main venue* Head coach
Northern Mystics       2008 Auckland The Trusts Arena Helene Wilson
Northern Stars     2017 Auckland Pulman Arena Kiri Wills
Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic         1999 Hamilton Claudelands Arena Amigene Metcalfe
Central Pulse     2008 Wellington TSB Bank Arena Gail Parata
Mainland Tactix       2008 Christchurch Horncastle Arena Marianne Delaney-Hoshek
Southern Steel       2008 Invercargill ILT Stadium Southland Reinga Bloxham
* Some teams have secondary stadiums in other cities.


Finals
Season Grand final Minor premiers Location
Champions Result Runners-up
2017 Southern Steel 69-53 Central Pulse Southern Steel Invercargill
2018 Southern Steel 54-53 Central Pulse Central Pulse Palmerston North
2019 Central Pulse 52-48 Northern Stars Central Pulse Porirua
2020 Central Pulse 43-31 Mainland Tactix Central Pulse Invercargill

Winners
Winners Seasons Titles
Southern Steel 2017, 2018 2
Central Pulse 2019, 2020 2

Media coverage

All 47 games are shown live on Sky Sport in New Zealand. Sky Sport will also show live games on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays throughout the season, and air the popular Sky Sport TV show Netball Zone.[13]

References
  1. "New Zealand's newest netball franchise revealed – Sport – NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  2. "2017 COMPETITION SCHEDULE" (PDF). Gallery.mailchimp.com. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  3. "Netball: End of ANZ Championship confirmed, new competition revealed – Sport – NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  4. "The Game is Changing – Suncorp Super Netball". supernetball.com.au.
  5. "ANZ backs new NZ Netball Elite League" (Press release). ANZ Bank New Zealand. Scoop. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  6. Donaldson, Scott (27 June 2017). "Unbeaten Southern Steel regular season 'counts for nothing' ahead of national final". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  7. "Steel crush Pulse to take ANZ Premiership title". The New Zealand Herald. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  8. "Netball NZ confirm later start to 2018 ANZ Premiership". The New Zealand Herald. 27 September 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  9. "Netball's ANZ Premiership joins list of postponed competitions". RNZ. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  10. "Official ANZ Premiership pre-season tournament heads to Otaki / News • ANZ Premiership Netball". Anzpremiership.co.nz. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  11. "'Super Sundays' main feature of new NZ national elite netball league". Stuff.co.nz. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  12. "ANZ Premiership Netball 2017 Media Guide" (PDF). Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  13. "Super Sunday blockbuster to open ANZ Premiership | Scoop News". Scoop.co.nz. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
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