Welsh Netball is excited to share the news that the Netball Europe Open Championships 2017, to be hosted in the Sport Wales National Centre, Cardiff on 5-8 October, will be streamed live on BBC Sport. This is in addition to being streamed on Netball Europe’s own YouTube channel.
The round-robin European championships will feature Wales, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland with this year’s invitational side being Fiji. Thanks to Netball Europe’s work with QTV Sports, who specialise in sports streaming, the BBC will be providing coverage of the tournament on connected TV, online and the BBC Sport app. This means that the Netball Europe Open Championships will be available to audiences across the United Kingdom and far beyond, giving fans the opportunity to enjoy elite netball for free.
Sarah Jones, Welsh Netball CEO shared her enthusiasm for the upcoming coverage. She said: “We are delighted to be hosting Netball Europe in Cardiff, and by working with BBC Wales Sport, QTV and Netball Europe, collaboratively, we were able to secure live streaming of NE on the BBC Sport online platform.”
“This is another positive step change in raising the profile of netball not only in Wales but far wider. The aim is for this type of coverage to become the ‘norm’, we have to continue to push to get netball the publicity and profile it deserves.”
She added: “We know there is an appetite and audience for live coverage of netball and this is testament to that. We are excited for the coming 4 days of elite netball here is Cardiff; raising the visibility and accessibility of the sport with such fabulous female role models is critical to inspiring a generation of women and girls to lead health active lifestyles.”
Lyn Carpenter, Netball Europe Chair, is also pleased to welcome QTV Sports to cover the tournament. She said: “I am delighted that yet again Netball Europe has partnered with QTV Sport to bring the weekend’s excitement to a worldwide audience.”
Meanwhile Wales arrive in camp this afternoon to prepare for their first match against Northern Ireland at 6.30pm tomorrow. Northern Ireland arrive in Cardiff following victory in the summer’s Quad Series against the Republic of Ireland, Barbados and Singapore.
BBC Sport’s itinerary is as follows:
Times are BST and subject to late changes.
Thursday, 5 October
16:30-18:00, Fiji v Scotland, Connected TV and online
18:30-20:00, Wales v Northern Ireland, Connected TV and online
Friday, 6 October
12:00-13:30, England v Scotland, Connected TV and online
18:00-19:30, Fiji v Wales, Connected TV and online
20:00-21:30, England v Northern Ireland, Connected TV and online
Saturday, 7 October
10:30-12:00, Fiji v Northern Ireland, Connected TV and online
16:00-17:30, Wales v Scotland, Connected TV and online
18:00-19:30, England v Fiji, Connected TV and online
Sunday, 8 October
10:00-11:30, Scotland v Northern Ireland, Connected TV and online
12:00-13:30, England v Wales, Connected TV and online