Understanding that the correct length for a badminton net is 6.1m Why do several manufacturers also produce 7.3m length nets? I came across this when my local school purchased nets of the 7.3m length and found them all bunched up when setup correctly with the posts 6.1m apart, they tried setting up with the posts incorrectly 7.3m apart which completely threw everyone and obviously wrong, finally they replaced with the correct 6.1m length net and solved the issue. Several weeks later my local sports facility also purchased new nets 7.3m long! Again I watched in dismay to see the brand new nets all bunched up and wrong between the correct post separation of 6.1m Again they will replace with correct 6.1m nets. I cant think of any training scenario or post setup that would gain from this length of net and I cant think of any shared sport that has a net length similar. Have I found a true anomaly that just got a foothold and manufacturers just kept copying?
It's an idea to make badminton fit better in the widescreen culture. With TVs and screens with a 16:9 ratio, or even wider, BWF is thinking about changing the court dimensions to make badminton fit in. You just need to compare old 4:3 footage with the recent 16:9 footage of badminton games to understand this. The wider the screens get (I've seen TVs with a 21:9 ratio), the wider the Badminton court has to get if BWF wants to be present in media. The shuttle is just too fast to broadcast a game from a side on angle. Some manufactures obviously already adapted to this idea.
I have never seen or heard of these nets, and a cursory search did not turn up any sport that would play with them. Most likely, somebody confused numbers – a distance of 1.20m between badminton courts would not be special, and if a hall uses shared net poles (i.e. only one between ever two courts), that would mean the net cord would have to be 7.30m long. (@speCulatius is joking of course)
Thanks for the input speCulatius, I checked with one of the suppliers whos been in the industry for 25 years and he told me that they were supplying the nets at 7.3m wide way before the notion of widescreen unfortunately dispelling this theory. He agreed there doesn't seem to be any logical explanation why they sell non standard size. He had like me thought that maybe historically badminton courts were bigger or for some kind of training issue but again no logic, we discussed the idea of some kind of safety reason but again even if you wanted to move the posts away surely you would just lengthen the cord not the net. I might not make it my life times ambition to find an answer to this slightly frivolous but nonetheless intriguing riddle!!!!! Any thoughts guys?
Hands up I fell for that one speCulatius! Good input phihag, yes agree its still a mystery. Even more confusing when several different suppliers offer these lengths. Heres some suppliers Harrod 6.1m 6.7m 7.3m Sportsquip (Supplier to Badminton England) 6.1m 6.7m 7.3m Jpleonnard 6.1m 7.3m Stadia Sports 6.1m 6.7m 7.3m Prince Tournament 6.1m 7.3m
