Vitality, a subsidiary of Discovery, has withdrawn as title sponsor of the Netball World Cup, which is set to be hosted in Cape Town at the end of the month.
Vitality said in a statement that they “were unable to reach a mutually agreeable partnership” with World Netball.
Discovery will continue to serve as sponsors of the South African and England netball teams.
“It was our intention to be the title sponsor of the Netball World Cup 2023. Regrettably, following negotiation, we were unable to reach a mutually agreeable partnership,” the statement read. “Discovery is therefore focusing its support for netball on the national teams in South Africa and England, namely the Proteas and the Vitality Roses. This is aligned to the update from World Netball and the Netball World Cup 2023 announcing Telkom and Spar as premium partners of the tournament sharing the major billing, with a roster of other major partners now coming on board.”
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Vitality has been a long-time sponsor of netball in various capacities, including the Vitality Netball International Series.
“Discovery is committed to female sport in South Africa and abroad, and to netball, through its partnership with the South African national netball team, as the ‘Official Wellness Partner’ to the Spar Proteas,” the statement continued. “The sponsorship of the national side will see Discovery supporting the team’s overall well-being with health, wellness, financial and nutrition resources over the next three years.”
Discovery will focus their attention on sponsoring legacy programmes in South Africa instead.
“As part of its commitment to netball, Discovery has developed and implemented a Netball Legacy programme to support netball at a grassroots level in South Africa (much like the one it has within football), with the aim of donating over 10,000 netballs to schools in need over the next year,” the statement read. “The Netball Legacy programme will be at the forefront of our netball sponsorship priorities to ensure greater access to the sport and more opportunities within rural areas and disadvantaged communities across the country. We wish the organising committee, our national team and all teams competing in the Netball World Cup 2023 every success for the tournament.”
