Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own goal ring. It is one of a few sports created exclusively for women and girls and remains primarily played by them, on indoor and outdoor courts, especially in schools and most popularly in the Commonwealth of Nations.
World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation and the International Federation of Netball Associations, is the worldwide governing body for Netball. The INF was created in 1960 and is responsible for world rankings, maintaining the rules for netball and organising the Netball World Cup and Netball at the Commonwealth Games
The 2011 World Netball Championships was the 13th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Singapore from 3–10 July. All 48 matches were played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Singapore was chosen as the host nation at the 2007 IFNA Congress in Auckland.
Netball is the most popular women's team participation sport in Australia. In 1985, there were 347,000 players, and in 1995, there were over 360,000 Australian netball players. Throughout most of Australia's netball history, the game has largely been a participation sport; it has not managed to become a large spectator sport. In 2005 and 2006, 56,100 Australians attended one to two netball matches, of these, 41,600 were women. 46,200 attended three to five netball matches, with 34,400 of those spectators being women. 86,400 attended six or more netball matches, with 54,800 spectators being female. Overall, 188,800 people attended netball matches, with 130,800 being female. In 2005 and 2006, netball was the 10th most popular spectator sport for women with Australian rules football (1,011,300), horse racing (912,200), rugby league (542,600), motor sports (462,100), rugby union (232,400), football (212,200), harness racing (190,500), cricket (183,200) and tennis (163,500) all being more popular. The country set an attendance record for a Netball match with a record crowd of 14,339 at the Australia–New Zealand Netball Test held at the Sydney Super Dome game in 2004.
The Jamaica national netball team, commonly known as the Sunshine Girls, represent Jamaica in international netball competitions. Netball is the number one women's sport and the number one team sport in Jamaica, and the majority of the schools in Jamaica participate. Netball receives full media coverage on television, radio and in newspapers but does not get as much coverage as less successful team sports such as football and cricket. Jamaica were coached by former representative Oberon Pitterson and captained by midcourt veteran Nadine Bryan until the end of 2013. In early 2014, a Technical Director and new coach were appointed. As of 1 July 2020, Jamaica are fourth in the INF World Rankings. The senior Jamaican netball team is widely known as the Sunshine Girls; the Jamaican Fast 5 netball team is known as Jamaica Fast5 or the FAST5 Girls.
Netball New Zealand is the national body which oversees, promotes and manages netball in New Zealand, including the Silver Ferns.
Netball is the most popular women's sport in New Zealand, in terms of player participation and public interest. With the national team, the Silver Ferns, currently ranked second in the world, netball maintains a high profile in New Zealand. As in other netball-playing countries, netball is considered primarily a women's sport; men's and mixed teams exist at different levels, but are ancillary to women's competition.
The Fast5 Netball World Series is an annual international Fast5 netball competition. The competition, which began in October 2009, features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens. The competition is contested by the six top national netball teams in the world, according to the INF World Rankings.
The Sri Lanka national netball team is the national netball team of Sri Lanka. The team is coached by Hyacinth Wijesinghe and captained by Gayanjali Amarawansa. As of 01 March 2023, Sri Lanka are ranked 15th in the world.
Netball is primarily played in Commonwealth countries, which were heavily involved in standardising the rules for netball. The Federation of European Netball Associations (FENA), sometimes referred to as Netball Europe, is the governing body for netball in the Europe netball region. The organisation was created in 1989/1990. As of August 2016, the English women's national team was ranked 3rd in the world, Wales is ranked 8th, Scotland is ranked 10th, Northern Ireland is ranked 12th, Ireland are ranked 25th, Gibraltar are ranked 31st, Malta are ranked 32nd and Switzerland are ranked 34th.
The Northern Ireland national netball team represent Northern Ireland in international netball tournaments such as the Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the European Netball Championship and the Nations Cup. The team was founded in 1955. Northern Ireland won the Nations Cup in both 2009 and 2015 and were silver medallists at the 2012 and 2017 European Netball Championships. As of 21 July 2019, Northern Ireland are listed 11th on the INF World Rankings. Since 2019 the team has been sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers and is sometimes referred to as the PwC Warriors.
Netball Switzerland was founded in 2009 by a group of volunteers to promote the game of Netball within Switzerland. Netball Switzerland changed its name to Swiss Netball and joined the INF as a full member in 2011. Switzerland was ranked on the INF World rankings - www.netball.org.
The Canadian national netball team is the national netball team of Canada. Canada has both men's and women's national teams. Netball Canada is Canada's national governing body for the sport. The national team was first formed in the latter half of the 20th century.
The Republic of Ireland national netball team is the national netball team of the Republic of Ireland. Their best performance at international tournament was a 10th-place finish in the 1991 World Netball Championships. As of 25 August 2022, the Republic of Ireland are 24th in the INF World Rankings. The current team members are below.
The Kosovo national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Kosovo and is controlled by the Football Federation of Kosovo. The team is considered to be the feeder team for the Kosovo national team.
The Israel national netball team participates in International tournaments, representing the country of Israel. They are part of Netball Europe and are a full member of the International Netball Federation (INF). They are also associate members of FENA.
The Switzerland national netball team represent Netball Switzerland in international netball tests and competitions. As of 7 March 2018, they are ranked 36th in the world. Established in 2009, Swiss Netball is a full member of the International Netball Federation (INF) and Netball Europe. Swiss Netball has worked hard to develop the game at the junior club level, as well as at senior level, and the national squad first obtained a world ranking in 2012.
Netball was one of the ten core sports at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which was held on the Gold Coast in Australia. This was the sixth staging of netball at the Commonwealth Games since its inclusion in 1998, and the second time the netball event was held in Australia.
The Brunei national netball team nicknamed Royal Bees, is the national team representing Brunei in international netball competitions. The team is currently coached by Jane Searle, and captained by Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bolkiah. As of 2 December 2022, Brunei are 34th on the INF World Rankings.
