Countdown to ANZ Championship Pre-Season Tournament!

 

Netball fans will have their first opportunity to see the new-look ANZ Championship teams in action at the competition's official pre-season tournament, to be jointly hosted by TTNL Ltd, Tauranga City Venues Limited (TCVL) and the First Windows Waikato / Bay of Plenty Magic in March 2012.

 

The tournament will be held at TECT Arena Baypark, Tauranga's stunning new multi-sport facility which opened in August 2011.

 

For the first time since the competition was established in 2008, all ten teams will contest the pre-season tournament, to be held from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th March.

 

Matches will be held across four sessions:

 

 

The competition will be divided into two pools of five teams. Each team will play the other four teams within its pool once (Sessions 1, 2 and 3), with teams from opposing pools playing each other in the final session based on their ranking at the completion of the first three sessions ie 5th ranked team from Pool A v 5th ranked team from Pool B, etc.

 

Match Intervals
Each match will be played over four quarters of 12 minutes, with the following intervals between quarters:

First quarter break - 2 minutes
Half time break - 3 minutes
Third quarter break - 2 minutes

 

Stoppages
Injury stoppages will be for 30 seconds only. There will be no two minute stoppages.

 

Points System
Draws will be permitted in all pool games (Sessions 1 to 3), however teams must play to a result in all final play-off games (Session 4).

 

Teams will be awarded points as follows:
Win - 2 points
Draw - 1 point
Loss - 0 points

 

Extra Time (final play-offs only)
In the event that teams are tied at full-time in final play-off games, extra time will be played. A two minute interval will follow the full-time whistle, and then one period of three minutes will be played. The team that is ahead at the conclusion of this period wins the game.

 

If the game remains drawn at the conclusion of the first three minute period, then there will be a one minute interval. Teams will then change ends and a further three minute period will be played.

 

Competition Schedule
The official draw for the pre-season competition will be available on Monday 16 January.

Ticketing Information
Tickets may be purchased for individual sessions, or an overall Weekend Pass is available:

 

 

Weekend passes will be available at http://www.ticketdirect.co.nz/ from Monday 16 January 2012.

 

For tickets to individual sessions, please contact the offices of Netball Bay of Plenty on +64 7 5710 886, or email Carolyn.Haddock@netballbop.co.nz

 

Travel & Accommodation
The pre-season competition is a MUST for netball lovers!! Not only is it a unique chance to see all ten ANZ Championship teams in action, but the Bay of Plenty is a magnificent holiday destination in itself.

 

ANZ Championship's office travel agent, Orbit Corporate Travel (based in Parnell, Auckland), can put together travel packages to suit all your need including flights, accommodation, car hire and tournament tickets. No matter whether you are travelling from within New Zealand or from Australia, the team at Orbit will take care of all your travel needs!

 

For further information, visit http://www.orbit.co.nz/ or email holidays@orbit.co.nz.

 

 

How many times will each team play?
Each team will play five matches in total; four pool games, and the final play-off based on their ranking after the pool games.

 

All teams will play at least once on Friday and Sunday. Some teams will play twice on Friday and Saturday, and others will play three times on Saturday.

 

Will there be an overall winner?
Yes - at the completion of Sessions 1-3, the two top-ranked teams from each pool will play-off for the title of ANZ Championship Pre-season Champion.