I somehow missed the news about the World Netball Series event. which brings together some of the top teams into a new form of competition with new rules. The event is in Manchester, 9th til 11th October, 2009 and it looks really good! I'm sort of busy that weekend, but busy in Manchester so hopefully I'll get across to get a sneak preview of this new format of competition.

The new rules look AMAZING ... things you don't imagine we'd ever manage to introduce in mainstream competition. There's quite a few but for me the big ones are:

• Goals scored from outside the shooting circle not only count, but count as double points
• The coaches can coach while the game is in progress (banned at many levels of competition
• Centre passes are taken by the team that just conceded a goal
• Substitutions can be made while the game is ongoing (how is this going to work? I can't imagine!)

Looking forward to seeing how these rules play out and perhaps having them introduced in the leagues I play in eventually!