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.
The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent Netball New Zealand in international netball tournaments such as the Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Taini Jamison Trophy, the Constellation Cup, the Netball Quad Series and the Fast5 Netball World Series. They have also represented New Zealand at the World Games. New Zealand made their test debut in 1938. As of 2023, New Zealand have been world champions on five occasions and Commonwealth champions twice. They are regularly ranked number two in the World Netball Rankings.
The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and the New Zealand national netball team, Trinidad and Tobago is the only other team to have won a title. The most recent tournament was the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa, which was won by Australia.
Dame Lois Joan Muir is a New Zealand netball coach and administrator, and a former representative netball and basketball player. Muir represented New Zealand in two sports, playing with the Tall Ferns from 1952 to 1962 and the Silver Ferns, player #27, from 1960 to 1963. She later became head coach (#4) of the Silver Ferns for 15 years from 1974 to 1988.
The 2007 World Netball Championships was the 12th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball co-ordinated by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). Sixteen nations contested the title from 10 to the 17 November. It was held in the West Auckland, New Zealand. Forty-eight matches over 8 days were played in The Trusts Stadium, Waitakere. The event was broadcast to over half a dozen countries
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.
Dame Ruth Ellina Aitken is a New Zealand former international-level netball player and former head coach of the New Zealand national netball team, the Silver Ferns.
The 1979 World Netball Championships was the fifth edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, featuring 19 teams.
The 1983 World Netball Championships was the sixth edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It took place from 11 to 24 June and was held in Singapore. This edition of the tournament featured 14 teams, of which Hong Kong and Malaysia both made their World Championship debut. Australia went undefeated in the first round then successfully defended its title going undefeated in the final round for their fifth title. New Zealand finished in second and Trinidad and Tobago came in third.
The 1987 World Netball Championships was the seventh edition of the INF Netball World Cup held in Glasgow, Scotland. This quadrennial premier event in international netball featured 17 teams, and included the debut of Cook Islands.
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.
Elaine Lamour Davis is a Jamaican international netball player. Fresh out of high school, she got her baptism in international sports when she was selected as a member of the national senior team, the Sunshine Girls, for the ninth World Netball Championships held in Birmingham, England in 1995. Davis officially debuted for the Jamaica national team during the 1995 Netball World Championships against Barbados, and has played goal shooter for most of her career.
Netball in Trinidad and Tobago is a popular sport.
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.
Sixteen nations qualified for the 2011 World Netball Championships, to be held in Singapore from 3–10 July. Participating nations have sent representative netball teams each comprising 12 players. Player rosters for all 16 teams were submitted to tournament organisers, and published on the WNC2011 website two days before the start of the tournament. Teams were divided into four groups for the initial pool stage.
The United States national netball team represents the United States in international netball competition at the quadrennial World Netball Championships for the INF Netball World Cup. The US national team comprises mostly expatriate players from Commonwealth countries where netball is popular, including Jamaica. The team competed at the 2003 World Netball Championships in Jamaica, finishing 9th. Prior to 2008, the final placings of the World Netball Championships were used to determine INF World Rankings, and from 2003–07 United States was ranked 9th. It did not compete at the 2007 World Netball Championships in New Zealand. As of December 2, 2019, United States is ranked in the world at 37th.
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.
Millie Munro is a former netball player for the Silver Ferns, the New Zealand national netball team, who played for her country on 41 occasions, including at the 1975 and 1979 world championships.
