The start of the Digicel/Punjas National Netball championship was delayed for two hours as umpires boycotted the event.

A source who wished to remain anonymous said the Fiji Netball Association did not follow the agreement made and that they wanted to be paid more.

“We were told that we will be paid only $60 for umpiring six to eight games but this is not enough which we didn’t agree to,” source said.

Netball Fiji vice-president Vivian Koster said organisers eventually roped in team officials from various districts to call the matches.

“Everything is now under control and the problem that might have been a misunderstanding has been solved and the games are running well now,” she said.

Meanwhile Fiji Pearls coach Kate Carpenter and her group of selectors will be scouting for young players at the two-day tournament.

Carpenter said competitions have a good mixture of all players.

“So we will be looking again at the potential players and players progressing because we have to select the Under-19 team to Botswana and we suggest all players to come out from around Fiji,” Carpenter said.

“We could have the names released at the end of the competition when all selectors meet.

The competition continues today at the National Netball Centre in Suva.

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