Netball is a ball sport played by two teams of seven players. Netball is most popular in many Commonwealth nations, specifically in schools, and is predominantly played by women. According to the INF, netball is played by more than 20 million people in more than 80 countries. Major domestic leagues in the sport include the Netball Superleague in Great Britain, Suncorp Super Netball in Australia and the ANZ Premiership in New Zealand. Four major competitions take place internationally: the quadrennial World Netball Championships, the Commonwealth Games, and the yearly Quad Series and Fast5 Series. In 1995, netball became an International Olympic Committee recognised sport, but it has not been played at the Olympics.
The International Netball Federation (INF), formerly the "International Federation of Netball Associations" (IFNA), 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.
The INF Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship co-ordinated by the International Netball Federation (INF), inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australian national netball team and the New Zealand national netball team, as of the 2019 event having both medaled in every one of the 15 championships – Trinidad and Tobago is the only other team to have won a title. The most recent tournament was the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England, which was won by New Zealand.
Netball is the most popular women's team participation sport in Australia. In 1985, there were 347,000 players. 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.
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 international Fast5 netball competition that was contested for the first time in October 2009. The new competition 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 Thilaka Jinadasa and captained by Chathurangi Jayasooriya. As of 21 July 2019, Sri Lanka are ranked 18th in the world.
Netball was first played in Sri Lanka in 1921. The first game was played by Ceylon Girl Guide Company at Kandy High School. The first interschool march was played between Kandy High School and C.M.S. Ladies' College, Colombo in February 1925. In 1927, netball was played at Government Training College for the first time. This helped spread the game around Sri Lanka. The game was being played at Methodist College Colombo and Bishop's College by the 1930s. By 1952, Sri Lankan clubs were playing Indian club sides. In 1956, Sri Lanka played its first international match against Australia's national team in Sri Lanka. In 1972, the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka was created. In 1983, Netball Federation of Sri Lanka was dissolved by the government.
The INF's Americas region includes North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The region covers 54 nations, of which 13 have national governing bodies. Each year, the region hosts two tournaments: the CNA U16 Championship and the AFNA Senior Championship. Netball is most popular in Commonwealth countries, such as Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada. As of August 2016, several teams in the region ranked amongst the top thirty-five in the world, including Jamaica (4th), Trinidad & Tobago (9th) Barbados (13th), Canada (18th), Grenada (22nd), Saint Lucia (24th), the United States of America (28th) and Argentina (35th).
Netball in Oceania is generally regarded as a woman's sport. Women's sports in Oceania have traditionally had a very low profile. Despite this, netball is popular in Oceania, with its growth partly because of New Zealand encouraging the game and providing money for the training of coaches, umpires and other netball development needs. In New Zealand and in neighbouring Australia, netball is one of the most popular sports played by women.
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 is a popular participant sport in some parts of the world, particularly in countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. According to the IFNA, over 20 million people play netball in more than 72 countries. IFNA member nations are divided into five regional groups: Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
Netball Switzerland was founded in 2009 by a group of volunteers to promote the game of Netball within Switzerland. Swiss Netball became a full member of INF in 2011. Switzerland is ranked on the INF World rankings - www.netball.org.
The Canadian national netball team is the national netball team of Canada. The netball team is selected through a trials process and competes on the world stage through regional AFNA competitions and qualifying tournaments to gain entry into The Commonwealth Games and the World Netball Championships. As of 2 December 2019, Canada were 32nd in the INF World Rankings. The team participates in the Netball World Championships, considered the highest level of competition for the sport, and its best result came in 1991 when they came 6th. Canada's first netball win was in the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games when they beat Sri Lanka 52–49. The current Team Canada members are below. Canada is a member of the INF Americas region, with Americas Federation of Netball Associations (AFNA) being the lead agency.
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 2 December 2019, the Republic of Ireland are 26th in the INF World Rankings. The current team members are below.
Netball in Malawi is popular with women, with the Chichewa word for the game being "Nchembre mbaye". The country has a national team and an under-21 team and also club teams.
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 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.
