Diale hails Telkom backing as Telkom Netball League set for 2026 return

The event took place yesterday in Sandton and was attended by key stakeholders, including Deputy Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Peace Mabe, SASCOC President Barry Hendricks, and Telkom Chief Marketing officer Gugu Mthembu.

Diale confirmed that Telkom’s support will extend beyond the TNL to include the Telkom Netball Championship, reinforcing a shared commitment to developing the sport from grassroots to high-performance level.

"Today we launched the sponsorship for the Telkom Netball League as well as the Telkom Netball Championship. Telkom is committed to netball for development and high performance; hence, I spoke about the TNC because it is the development pathway for our players to reach the high-performance level," said Diale.

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"For TNC , we have the U-17, U-18, and U-19 teams participating there. Within TNC , we see it as Netball South Africa's development pathway for the players to stand tall and stand out."

Diale also confirmed that discussions are ongoing with executive members regarding the total prize money and category breakdowns ahead of the 2026 Telkom Netball League.

"We are sitting down with executive members to discuss that, but one thing I can say is that there will be a difference in the Player of the Match and the player accolades. We are also looking at categorizing players because previously we were paying the players in the B section the same amounts as the players in the A section."

"We thought it wise, as executive members , to categorize everybody in terms of performance and their caps , so there will be different kinds of payments for players as well as coaches."

"In reality, coaches' levels are not the same, players' levels are not the same, and the sections where they are playing are not the same. But we are looking to also ensure that the winning amount also increases."

She added that while there will be adjustments to payment structures across player and coaching levels, there will be no cuts. Instead, increases are expected across all sub-categories.

Diale further noted that the future of the sport looks promising, with ambitions of establishing a fully professional netball league in South Africa.