• HCF renews commitment as Major Partner of Netball Australia and Super Netball until at least 2025, supporting continued growth of women’s sport
• Extends contract as Principal Partner of GIANTS Netball until 2025
• Steps up as Premier Partner of Melbourne Vixens until 2025
• Retains partnerships with Queensland Firebirds, Sunshine Coast Lightning, NSW Swifts, Adelaide Thunderbirds and West Coast Fever
• Extension includes re-commitment with Netball Queensland, Netball New South Wales, Netball Victoria, Netball South Australia, Netball Western Australia, Netball Tasmania, Netball ACT & Netball Northern Territory

THURSDAY MARCH 16, 2023: Australia’s largest not for profit health fund, HCF, has inked its ongoing commitment to establishing Australia as the premier global netball league with the announcement of a three-year extension to its major partnership with Netball Australia and Super Netball until at least 2025.

The extension of the partnership builds on the foundations of a four-year all-of-game national partnership, that has seen the health fund provide the sport with support from grassroots to elite levels since 2019.

HCF has also announced a three-year extension to its commitment as Principal Partner of the GIANTS Netball club, that will take its support to the GIANTS community to a nine-year stint since becoming foundation partner in 2017.

The Melbourne Vixens have also agreed to welcome HCF on board as Premier Partner from the 2023 season, aligning HCF with the league’s largest fanbase.

HCF Chief Executive Officer Sheena Jack said the partnership firmly aligned with the fund’s mission to improve the health and wellness of all Australians, particularly young females, with netball being the number one participation sport for Australian girls.

“As Australia’s largest not for profit health fund, we’re proud to support the dynamic and continued growth of women’s sports,” Ms Jack said.

“Research commissioned by HCF* has found that only 27 per cent of female Australians intend on playing teams sports compared with 41 per cent of men. This research shows that female participation is still lagging, and we need to work together with bodies like Netball Australia to shift the dial.

“Working with Netball Australia means we can help to motivate and empower young girls and women to lead healthier lives and stay active and engaged in sport.

“These partnerships aren’t just about backing the sport financially but about working with the players and their communities to drive awareness of and support for the health issues that are really important to women.”

During the 2023 netball season, HCF will launch a content series including videos featuring players talking about important women’s health issues, like body image and social media; nutrition; mental health; and fitness and exercise.

“As Netball Australia's official health insurance partner and as the nation’s leading not for profit health fund, we’re on a mission to help build awareness of and normalise conversations around sometimes stigmatised women’s health topics, and to provide support and give voice to Australian women on the health issues that are important to them,” Ms Jack said.

“Our Team Behind the Team series, launching in April, feature players talking about real issues, their own experiences and how they’ve supported each other, to inspire young girls and women to have conversations and seek the right kind of advice and insight on those topics within our Women’s Health Hub.”

Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan welcomed HCF’s continued support.

“Netball Australia is delighted to continue its partnership with HCF for a further three years,” Ms Ryan said.

“The partnership was forged with a common goal to empower Australians of all ages to lead active and healthy lives.”

Media contact: Rebecca Page 0439130400 rpage@hcf.com.au

ABOUT HCF

HCF, Australia’s largest not-for-profit health fund protecting Australians since 1932, covers more than 1.9 million members with health and life insurance, and travel and pet insurance. HCF has been awarded Outstanding Value Health Insurance by Canstar seven years in a row from 2016-2022. On average over the last 10 years, HCF has paid out more cents in every dollar in premiums to members as benefits than the industry average. To learn more about HCF go to hcf.com.au/about-us

*Research was conducted on behalf of HCF by YouGov online between October 29 and November 3, 2021. The survey was conducted amongst a nationally representative sample of 2,579 Australian adults. The results were weighted by age, gender and location to be representative of the broader Australian population.