Dana Johannsen: Fast5 welcome back but first, a few conditions

10,000 fans watched the likes of Kayla Cullen (NZ) and Anna Kay Griffiths (Jamaica) at Vector Arena. Photo / Getty Images

INF’s wish to base it here plays into Netball NZ’s hands.

So that was the last we will see of Fast5 World Series for a while.

There was a time when I wouldn't have considered this a major loss for netball. Now, I'm not so sure.

The shortened version of the game might not be everyone's cup of camomile - and I include myself in this group - but for the 10,000 or so fans who crammed into Vector Arena in all their pink-wigged glory at the weekend, the tournament is a big deal. Over the past three years the event has developed a cult following, becoming the ultimate girls' weekend event for the netball set.

When you compare Fast5 to the embarrassing crowds that Georgie Pie cricket thingee has drawn these past few weeks, netball's spin-off version looks the stuff of marketing genius. It is a shame then that just as the Fast5 tournament is beginning to reach its potential, Netball New Zealand's contract to host the event has run out. All that momentum is set to be lost.

It was hoped after three years in Auckland another nation would step up to host the tournament, just as England did for the three years before the event came to New Zealand. But at this point there is no other country that can commit to taking the tournament on, particularly when the current model forces the hosts to take on all the financial risk.

Netball NZ are carefully considering hosting the event again in the future, but without the funding already in place they were reluctant to sign up for 2015. They also figure that a lot of the die-hard fans who can be relied upon to travel from around New Zealand to attend the two-day tournament will next year splash out on a trip to Sydney for the World Cup instead. But, as Netball NZ chairman John Bongard said during the closing ceremony at the weekend, it is a case of when rather than if the tournament returns to Auckland.

The New Zealand body are coming under pressure from the International Netball Federation to take on the hosting of the tournament once more.

Last week, INF president Molly Rhone hoped another nation would step into the breach, but she has since changed her tune and says she would like Auckland to become the permanent home of Fast5.

While this might be music to the ears of local fans, this is not necessarily the best move for the sport. To increase the sport's global reach the tournament needs to go elsewhere and be introduced to new audiences. Keeping it in Auckland would in many ways be an admission of defeat, as if netball bosses accept they're not going to generate anywhere near the same level fan engagement and media interest elsewhere.

But if Netball NZ do decide to take on the tournament again, they should use it as a bargaining chip to address some issues with the Fast5 model and the international game in general.

Fast5 is an INF product, yet the hosts of the tournament are expected to underwrite all the costs associated with staging the event, including the airfares and accommodation for the visiting teams.

With those sort of terms it is little wonder INF have struggled to find another nation to step into the void.

Netball NZ should also push for the introduction of a dedicated international window.

Outside the World Cup and Commonwealth Games there is no clear calendar to anchor the sport.

Rather than stage it at the end of the year, it would make a lot of sense to kick off the international season with the Fast5 tournament, which would provide the Silver Ferns the opportunity to play the likes of England and Jamaica in full test matches as a lead-in to the annual Constellation Cup series with Australia.

If Netball NZ can't get more balance to future arrangements, they should pack up their pink wigs and go home.