Eddie Nketia, Rohan Browning, Eleanor Patterson, Nicola Olyslagers in action as athletics begins; gymnasts go for more gold; swimmers back in the pool
When does a netball dress become a netball singlet? It’s a question on the minds of many who watched the Australian Diamonds make a winning start to their Commonwealth Games title defence.
The Diamonds defeated Tonga in their first two matches and then defeated England; which showed that it didn’t take long for the team to recover since coming together so soon after the end of the Super Netball season.
However, there were many comments about their jerseys on social media; some players had to tug on gold dresses that went over their cycling shorts.
It’s important to note that the criticism was about the functionality of the dresses rather than their appearance.
After the Tonga match, Kiera Austin laughed off questions about whether the dresses were too short and said they probably needed to wear them a few more times to be flexible.
“I think before I wore them a few times… they’re obviously a little tighter and stuff. But yeah, I think they look great. They’re so pretty and we love wearing them,” Austin said.
After their physical victory against England, social media users’ passion for the dress increased even more.
Here’s an example including Shakira’s reference Hips Don’t Lie.
Super Netball watchers know that netball dresses are not that uncommon to wear, but they appear to be shorter than usual in terms of material.
Netball Australia recognizes that jerseys can be a barrier to participation, particularly at community level, by changing its rules in 2022 to allow players to wear any combination of dresses, singlets, bodysuits, short or long-sleeved shirts, skirts, shorts and long trousers with the approval of their governing body.
