Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer

The new ranking system implemented by the Inter-national Federation of Netball Association (IFNA) will place huge financial constraints on the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA), local president Marva Bernard has said.

"It is going to have a financial impact on us as an association to be able to afford to give our senior girls at least the kind of fighting chance to be able to improve," said Bernard in an interview with The Gleaner.

"It also means that we will have to decide who we play because we have to play one of the top teams, and we will have to continue to keep the girls in training constantly now for the next four years at high intensity level to be able to improve and to be able to sustain our rankings."

Accurate reflection

The new ranking system, which was posted on the IFNA website on Monday after it was approved, will rate competitors according to matches played throughout the year. Thus, it is expected to provide a more accurate reflection of the current form of countries competing internationally.

Under the previous ranking system the countries were ranked every four years on the basis of their WNC finishing positions.

As a consequence of the change, Jamaica's Sunshine Girls, who won the bronze-medal at the last World Netball Championships in Auckland, New Zealand, have slipped one spot to fourth behind England.

The Jamaicans had beaten England in the bronze medal match at the WNC.

However, the English had more consistent performances in 2007, having scored wins against both New Zealand and Jamaica.

World champions Australia and New Zealand are ranked number one and two respectively, following their continued success on the world stage.

Bernard says the Sunshine Girls will have to play at least eight international matches in the next four years, at least two per year.

"It will mean we will have to now no longer have a four-year cycle because the World Championships do not determine the rankings, it means that your rankings will now determine on the amount of matches that you play," Bernard explained.

Major step

Molly Rhone, president of IFNA, was quoted on the IFNA website as saying: "This is a major step forward for our sport. To have a ranking system that takes account of the form of teams in-between our World Championships is really exciting."

"Not only will this make existing international netball events and Test matches more meaningful, we hope it will stimulate more regular competition between countries," Rhone said.

"One of our strategic goals is to raise the performance levels across all member countries and maxi-mise the commercial opportunity and profile of key international events," said Rhone, a former president of the JNA.

"Like many sports, we must work hard to close the gap between the top few countries and those below them, to generate interest and excitement with new audiences in our events. This new world-ranking system gives us a much better indicator to work from," Rhone explained.