Netball: Australian slams van Dyk ruling

Australian coach Jill McIntosh has hit out at the decision to allow Silver Ferns goal-shoot Irene van Dyk to play for New Zealand at next year's Commonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth Games Federation's executive board met yesterday in Manchester and granted a residency waiver for van Dyk, a former South African.

Former Fijian international Vilimaina Davu was also cleared to play for New Zealand.

Federation chief executive Michael Hooper said van Dyk's case was helped because she had indicated her long-term commitment to New Zealand.

"It wasn't a hard decision to make because the South African and Fijian Games associations had agreed to release both players," he said.

McIntosh is unimpressed with the decision, labelling it an undesirable precedent. Waiving the three-year residency rule opened the way for countries to poach the best players and to build world selections.

She described the decision as "a shame for netball."

- NZPA