All this furore stemmed from Sport England announcing its latest funding , of which netball takes a hefty £16.9 million chunk (one of the most significant amounts), to encourage more women to take up the sport. 2014 was the last time funding was announced, and in those three years we've seen the sport go fully professional, with Sky Sports signing a deal to continue broadcasting, and changes to the official rules globally to reduce the level of whistle and game-stopping to make it more spectator-friendly. In fact, two years ago, international matches struggled to fill seats – now the schedule is locked into Sky Sports and selling upwards of 7,000 tickets per match across the UK with an 80% female audience.