Waitakere's Trusts Stadium could host next year's world netball championships if the political situation in Fiji is not resolved in time, says the venue's chief executive Simon Wickham.
The International Netball Federation (IFNA) is eyeing alternatives in case political instability denies Suva next year's event.
The difficulty is,
only a handful of nations could host the championship at such short notice. At the forefront are New Zealand and Australia.
Australia, who last hosted the event in 1991, bid to host next year's championships in Perth but lost out to Fiji. While Perth could be an option, Netball Australia are in a period of transition. They have just appointed a new chief executive, Kate Palmer, and are moving their headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne early next year.
Christchurch hosted the 1999 world championships and could be used again but Auckland, with more accommodation, is probably a better option.
Over the last two years Trusts Stadium has been Netball New Zealand's venue of choice in Auckland not only for tests but also for this year's national championships.
Wickham will contact Netball New Zealand and the international body to "express an interest if they need us".
The stadium has six netball courts and can seat 5500 spectators around a main court.
"We are very keen to host the event having hosted a number of major netball matches recently and also the Oceania Youth Basketball tournament and the Scottwood Netball Championships," Wickham said.
"We are 100 per cent confident we could pull off the event."
Although the stadium is a popular training venue for a number of sports, Wickham said fitting the championships in would not be a problem.
While IFNA is confident the championship will go ahead in Fiji, vice-president Kereyn Smith said there were options but she was not willing to reveal them.
"The panic button has not been pushed," she said. "If the world champs were in Fiji in two weeks' time obviously we would be in a state of red alert now. The reality is they are eight months away ... Events could take place and then settle down again."
