Mainland Tactix | |
---|---|
Franchise information | |
Years active | 1998–present |
Former name | Canterbury Flames (NBC), Canterbury Tactix (ANZ) |
Based in | Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand |
Regions |
Canterbury region West Coast region Nelson region Marlborough region |
Main venue | Horncastle Arena |
Main sponsor | SKOPE |
Head coach | Sue Hawkins |
Asst coach | Marianne Delaney-Hoshek |
Co-captains | Anna Thompson |
Website | www |
ANZ Championship | |
Best finish | 6th (2009) |
2016 finish | 4th (NZ Conference) |
The Mainland Tactix are a New Zealand netball team based in Christchurch, Canterbury who compete in the ANZ Premiership. The team was one of the founding teams in the National Bank Cup, formerly the premier netball competition in New Zealand (1998–2007), during which the team was known as the Canterbury Flames. After the NBC was retired in 2007, the Flames became a founding franchise of the new trans-Tasman ANZ Championship and changed their name to the "Tactix". In 2013 they changed their name to Mainland Tactix from Canterbury Tactix to clearly state what region they are from. The Mainland team represent the New Zealand regions of Canterbury, West Coast, Nelson and Marlborough.
The Tactix have had mixed results during their competitive history. The "Flames" finished second in four seasons of the NBC, but since the start of the ANZ Championship the "Tactix" have finished no higher than sixth. Since 2010, they have finished dead last in every year of the competition except for 2013 where the Northern Mystics finished last that year.
Home games for the Mainland Tactix are played at the 7200-seat CBS Canterbury Arena in Christchurch. In 2012 it was announced that a game would be played in Nelson for the first time. The team uniform is primarily red and black, in line with traditional Canterbury Rugby Union colours. Their alternate uniform has the black and red colours reversed. For their season of the ANZ Championship, the team were sponsored by SKOPE, a heating and refrigeration company. Since 2009, Mercury Energy have been their naming rights sponsor. In 2012 Easiyo was picked up as naming rights sponsor.
The ANZ Championship was founded in 2007 as the new elite domestic netball competition in New Zealand and Australia. It replaced the National Bank Cup in New Zealand and the Commonwealth Bank Trophy in Australia, which both played their final season in 2007. When the new trans-Tasman competition was announced, the competition was reported to feature five teams from each country. For the new competition, five New Zealand franchises were formed from amalgamations of National Bank Cup teams. A franchise based in Canterbury was an obvious selection. They were a direct replacement of the Canterbury Flames from the NBC.