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.
Netball Australia is the peak governing body for the sport of netball in Australia. The organisation's stated objectives for Australian netball are to achieve national and international success in competition, encourage greater participation and spectator involvement, and ensure excellence in all spheres of the sport.
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.
The Jamaica national netball team, commonly known as the Sunshine Girls, represent Jamaica in international netball competition. Netball is not only the number one women's sport in Jamaica but also the number one team sport in the island, based on World Rankings and recent history 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 up to the end of 2013. However, a Technical Director and new coach, were appointed in early 2014. 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.
The Wales national netball team represents Wales in international netball competition.
The history of netball can be traced to the early development of netball. A year after basketball was invented in 1891, the sport was modified for women to accommodate social conventions regarding their participation in sport, giving rise to women's basketball. Variations of women's basketball arose across the United States and in England. At the Bergman Österberg physical training college in Dartford, England, the rules of women's basketball were modified over several years to form an entirely new sport: "net ball". The first codified rules of netball were published at the start of the twentieth century, and from there the new sport spread throughout the British Empire It was also invented for young females to be energetic.
Women started playing netball in India as early as 1926. The Sports Authority of India and the Government of India have provided much funding with the goal of improving the performance of the country's youth national team. Netball Federation of INDIA was established in 1978 by Ch Jagat Singh ChOuhan hailing from Haryana who was an alumnus of YMCA College of Physical Education of Madras and at the same year he organised the first national championships in Jind, Haryana with great contribution of Mrs Shashi Prabha. Mr Jagat Singh Chouhan was founder/father of Handball, Netball and Throwball games in India. His efforts in Germany during Munich Olympics (1972) helped in making these a legacy in India. India had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championships in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001. National team captains include Prachi Tehlan, who captained the side that competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Netball is promoted in Malaysia at the Sport Carnival for All (KESUMA). In 1998, 113 districts held netball competitions. That year, there were 1,718 registered netball teams in the country. In 2001, netball was sufficiently popular in South East Asia for it to be included in the 21st Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championships in Colombo in 2001. Malaysia also competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship in India in 2010. Petronas, the national oil company, has been a major sponsor of netball in the country. This type of sponsorship was encouraged by the government as part of the Rakan Sukan programme.
Netball is one of the most popular women's participation sports in South Africa. The sport is also played by a large number of men. It exists in a culture where sport plays an important public and social part of life. The history of South Africa's netball involvement mirrors that of other sports played in the country like rugby union. During the apartheid era, there were many netball facilities available for whites to use, and fewer for people from other race groups. Funding issues and gender issues did not help bridge this gap.
Netball in Botswana is primarily played by women. Girls are introduced to netball at primary schools, as part of the school curriculum.
Netball was one of the most popular sports in Tanzania. The sport was introduced to the country after the World War I, when the country was under British colonial rule. The sport was intended for leisure and first played in schools. For this reason, almost all primary schools in the country have a court. Recruitment for the national team and other high level teams started at that level. Netball Association of Tanzania (CHANETA) was created in 1966. Women have historically dominated in leadership positions in CHANETA but men are still involved, especially in roles like coaching. During the 1970s and 1980s, there was a push by the International Olympic Committee and the British Council to promote sport and women's sport in Tanzania. Despite netball being the most popular women's sport at the time, no investment was made into the sport.
Netball in Trinidad and Tobago is a popular sport.
Netball has never been played at the Summer Olympics, but its federation has been recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), since 1995 after a twenty-year period of lobbying. The netball community sees netball's absence at the Olympic Games as a hindrance to the global growth of the game, depriving it of media attention and funding. The IOC requires a high geographical scope for inclusion in the Olympics, but netball is mostly played in Commonwealth countries. When the IOC recognized netball's federation, it opened up sources of funds that the global netball community had not been able to access before, including the (IOC), national Olympic committees and sports organisations, and state and federal governments.
Netball is a popular women's sport in parts of Africa. Several African nations are ranked amongst the top thirty in the world. As of August 2016, South Africa was ranked number Five, Malawi was ranked number Six, Uganda was ranked Seven, Zambia was ranked Sixteenth, Botswana was ranked twentieth, Zimbabwe was ranked Twenty-first and Swaziland was ranked Thirtieth in the world.
Netball is popular in several parts of Asia. The IFNA Asia region includes countries such as Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. The major regional competition is the Asian Netball Championship. In 1994, the first Asian Youth Championship was held in Hong Kong.
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.
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.
Jill McIntosh is a former Australia netball international and national team head coach. As a player, McIntosh was a member of the Australia team that won the gold medal at the 1983 World Netball Championships. She later coached Australia at the 1995 and 1999 World Netball Championships and at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games, guiding the team to four gold medals. In 2009 she was inducted into the Netball Australia Hall of Fame. McIntosh subsequently worked as a coach with the International Netball Federation, Central Pulse and with the national teams of Singapore, Northern Ireland and Jamaica.
