FNB head of sponsorships Francois Pienaar says: “We are very proud to include the netball segment into the Classic Clashes sponsorships as our rugby involvement at school and university level has been prominent and successful around the country and we believe that our netball involvement will be just as effective!”
The sponsorship deal amounts to R600,000 sponsorship from the bank and it will mean that 400 girls from 40 schools will participate in 20 matches to be played between April and August, 2009.
South African netball is ranked at number 7 out of 22 countries on a world scale, according to the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). Approximately 30,000 SA schools and nearly 1.8 million netball players participate in the sport.
FNB has been supporting the Classic Clashes since 2001, but, traditionally this has been school rugby; this is the bank's first attempt to promote netball at high-school level, which will help to develop junior talent.
