KEY POINTS:
Growing up in Manchester, world netball chief executive Sue Whitworth was passionate about two things - horses and netball.
Netball went by the wayside while she focused on equestrian in her late teens but now, several years later, she is the head of netball's governing body IFNA -
the International Federation of Netball Associations.
Whitworth was appointed chief executive in July. She comes to the job after a career in communications, marketing and public relations. She worked on the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the 2003 Rugby World Cup and for the British Tourism Industry when Britain was after the 2012 Olympics.
She had just returned from her first IFNA meeting when the Weekend Herald spoke to her about the state of the game.
What are your impressions of world netball?
"The different state of the game in different countries stands out. I haven't had a chance to get to New Zealand and Australia yet, but from looking at the media coverage of the recent tests and crowd sizes - it is very different when you start moving behind the top five countries.
"We do need to see some other countries coming through. I have seen positive support provided by some of the top nations.
"New Zealand and Australia aren't sitting there and saying, 'We don't want to help these countries out."'
What is the biggest issue facing world netball?
"We need to increase our membership but need more funding coming through. It is like the sport has outpaced our ability to support that development."
Netball is still amateur and relies on volunteers. There are only three members of IFNA who are employed full time.
"There is a long way to go in raising the profile and giving the sport credibility to the sponsorship community. The appointment of a marketing agency to the world body has been a good step. The board members are volunteers and to think they could go out selling the sport every day to potential investors was unrealistic.
"There are a lot of organisations who are looking to talk to global communities of women, we have to find out who they are and push all the right buttons with them."
In the last series between NZ and Australia there was plenty of discussion about the umpiring. What is your take on the situation?
"We recognise there is a lack of depth in international umpiring and that we do need more umpires spread around the world. There are a lot of umpires coming out of New Zealand and Australia; that does pose a problem when we are trying to find neutral umpires for those test matches. It is something we are working hard to address.
"We have to use the opportunities where umpires who are good enough can be exposed to that kind of competition while making sure they don't become disheartened if the test doesn't go as it should do."
IFNA is in the process of reviewing the game's rules, which is done every eight years.
"We were very positive about the number of countries that put forward their suggestions. We have a rules commission who are reviewing the proposed changes from the countries and they will put forward their recommendations before a congress meeting in July - where we can look forward to some lively debate."
The world championships in Fiji are now just eight months away. With the country troubled by political unrest, are there any plans to move to another location?
"In the buildup to the IFNA meeting there was some concern about the political situation but we were reassured by the organisers and the Government minister who came.
"The next period is critical for Fiji, we are staying on top of them and making sure they are on track. There have been a number of visits to Fiji by board members and there will continue to be. There were certainly [back-up] options discussed but we are not pursuing any at the moment."
What are your aims over the next two years?
"It is important we retain our Olympic recognition. Ambitiously, we want to think we can become a sport on the Olympic programme so we have to make sure we keep that status. That means increasing the membership.
"We have a target to reach 50 members - we are now at 43. Argentina have come on board, there is huge potential in South America. We are only just starting to attract non-English-speaking countries."
