Nine Proteas bag overseas contracts following Netball World Cup

Nomma Plummer's side put on an honourable display at the Cape Town International Comvention Centre, despite ending the tournament in sixth-place after losing their final encounter to Uganda.

Mammoth efforts against Jamaica – ranked third in the world at the time – as well as defending world champions New Zealand is thought to have sparked interest from abroad, with no less than nine players having since secured contracts across the UK and New Zealand.

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Proteas assistant coach Dumisani Chauke believes, in the absence of a local professional league, this is a massive step forward for netball in South Africa as more players will now be exposed to higher levels of the sport.

"These players will be playing at a high level on a regular basis. The more game time our players have, the better it is for the SPAR Proteas," Chauke told Netball SA. 

"Australia, New Zealand, and England all have very competitive professional leagues and that is one of the reasons why they remain at the top of the international netball world.

"We need our own professional league but, until that time, we need as many players as possible playing a high level of netball on a regular basis.

"All countries have their own style of netball, and it is also to our advantage to have players who know how the game is played in other countries."

Players who signed contracts (teams and locations in brackets):

Jeante Steyn (Southern Steel, New Zealand), Elmeré van der Berg and Shadine van der Merwe (both Manchester Thunder, UK), Khanyisa Chawane (Celtic Dragons, Cardiff), Lefebre Rademan (Severn Stars, Worcester), Nicola Smith (Loughborough Lightning, UK), Nichole Taljaard (London Pulse, UK), Owethu Ngubane (Strathclyde Sirens, Scotland), Ine-Mari Venter (Saracens Mavericks, Hertfordshire).

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