First played | 2017 |
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Walking netball is a version of netball adapted to be a slower game and thus more inclusive, allowing older or less fit people to continue playing, return to playing, or take up netball for the first time. [1] The main differences in the rules are that running and jumping are not allowed, that an extra step may be taken with the ball, and that the ball may be held for 4 seconds instead of 3 seconds. [2] A walking netball programme was first developed in England in 2017, as a collaboration between England Netball and the charity Age UK. [3] It is played in countries including England, [1] [4] Australia [5] and New Zealand. [6] [7]
A 2021 research paper, reporting on a project involving introducing members of the Women's Institute in England to the game, found walking netball to be "an acceptable, feasible and effective intervention to increase physical activity and improve health in middle- to older- aged women". [3]
Similar slower-paced sports include walking football (association football), [8] walking rugby, [9] walking basketball. [10] walking hockey (based on field hockey) [11] and walking cricket. [11]
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. 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.
Sport in New Zealand largely reflects the nation's colonial heritage, with some of the most popular sports being rugby union, rugby league, cricket, association football, basketball, horse racing and netball, which are primarily played in Commonwealth countries. New Zealand has enjoyed success in many sports, notably rugby union, rugby league, cricket, America's Cup sailing, world championship and Olympics events, and motorsport.
Touch rugby refers to games derived from rugby league in which players do not tackle each other but instead touch their opponents using their hands on any part of the body, clothing, or the ball.
In Australia, sport is an important part of the country's culture and dates back to the early colonial period. The first of the country's mainstream sports to become established in order of their organisation were cricket, Australian rules football, rugby union, tennis, soccer, basketball, netball and rugby league. According to Ausplay, in 2024 the most practiced physical activities for Australians were walking including bushwalking, fitness, running cycling, pilates and yoga each practised by more than a million adults. The most played team sports in order of participation are soccer, basketball, Australian rules football, cricket, netball and touch football/rugby league each played by more as many as half a million adults. Soccer and basketball, in particular have more than a million adult players are also the most popular team activities for children. Running, tennis and golf are the most popular individual sports among Australians with more than a million participants. Running and walking in particular have grown rapidly in popularity with the community organisation parkrun registering more than 1 million Australian participants since 2011. Sport has shaped the Australian national identity through events such as the Melbourne Cup and the America's Cup.
Belinda Louise Colling is a former New Zealand netball international. Between 1996 and 2006, she made 92 senior appearances for New Zealand. She captained New Zealand at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and the 1999 World Netball Championships and was a member of the New Zealand teams that won gold medals at the 2003 World Netball Championships and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Colling is also a double international and played for the New Zealand women's national basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. During the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup era, Colling played netball for Otago Rebels, Canterbury Flames and Southern Sting. She also played for Team Northumbria in the Netball Superleague. In 2022, she was included on a list of the 25 best players to feature in netball leagues in New Zealand since 1998.
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.
Mitre Sports International Ltd., mostly known as Mitre, is an English sports equipment manufacturer based in Wakefield. Mitre is mainly focused on association football but also providing equipment for other sports. Having founded in 1817 in Huddersfield, the company is one of the oldest of its type in the world. Mitre is currently a subsidiary of the British family–owned Pentland Group.
Sport in England plays a prominent role in English society. Popular teams sports in England include association football, cricket, field hockey, rugby union, rugby league, and netball. Major individual sports include badminton, athletics, tennis, boxing, golf, cycling, motorsport, and horseracing. Cricket is regarded as the national summer sport. Football is generally considered to be the popular sport, followed by cricket, tennis and rugby. A number of modern sports were codified in England during the nineteenth century, among them cricket, rugby union, rugby league, football, field hockey, bandy, squash, chesstennis, and badminton. The game of baseball was first described in 18th century England.
Sport plays an important role in the business, community, social and cultural life in the state of South Australia.
Manchester City and Manchester United are popular Premier League football clubs in Greater Manchester. United's ground is in Old Trafford; Manchester City's home ground is the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester. Fixtures between the clubs are referred to as the Manchester Derby. Manchester United are historically the second most successful football club in England with 67 elite honours won and was the first team in England to achieve the Continental treble. Manchester United's revenue was the fifth highest of a football club in the world in the 2022–23 season at €745.8 million. In 2023, Forbes estimated the club was the second most valuable in the world at $6 billion.
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 history of netball can be traced to the early development of basketball. 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 Madame Österberg Physical Training College Dartford, England, the rules of women's basketball were modified over several years to form an entirely new sport: "net ball". The sport was invented to encourage young females to be physically active and energetic. 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.
Women's sport in Australia started in the colonial era. Sport made its way into the school curriculum for girls by the 1890s. World War II had little impact on women's sport in the country. After the war, women's sport diversified as a result of new immigrants to the country. In the 1990s, the percentage of media coverage for women's sport on radio, television and in newspapers was not at parity with male sport. Basketball is nominally professional in Australia but players do not earn enough from the sport to compete full-time. Some Australians have gone overseas to play professional sport. Many television spectators for Australian sport are women. In person, netball has large percentage of female spectators. The Australian Federal and State governments have encouraged women to participate in all areas of sport.
Joanne Elizabeth Harten is a former England netball international. She was a member of the England team that won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She also sits on the board of the Australian Netball Players’ Association.
The history of sport in Australia dates back to the pre-colonial period of the country.
Walking football is a variant of association football invented in 2011 and is played by thousands of teams all over the UK.
Sport in Sussex forms an important part of the culture of Sussex. With a centuries-long tradition of sport, Sussex has played a key role in the early development of both cricket and stoolball. Cricket is recognised as having been formed in the Weald and Sussex CCC is England's oldest county cricket club. Slindon Cricket Club dominated the sport for a while in the 18th century. The cricket ground at Arundel Castle traditionally plays host to a Duchess of Norfolk's XI which plays the national test sides touring England. The sport of stoolball is also associated with Sussex, which has a claim to be where the sport originated and certainly where its revival took place in the early 20th century. Sussex is represented in the Premier League by Brighton & Hove Albion and in the Football League by Crawley Town. Brighton has been in the Premier League since 2017 and has been a League member since 1920, whereas Crawley was promoted to the League in 2011. Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. play in the FA Women's Super League from 2017. Sussex has had its own football association, since 1882 and its own football league, which has since expanded into Surrey, since 1920. In horse racing, Sussex is home to Goodwood, Fontwell Park, Brighton and Plumpton. The All England Jumping Course show jumping facility at Hickstead is situated 8 miles (13 km) north of Brighton and Hove.
Cricket, rugby union, rugby league & netball are the prominent sporting rivalries between Australia and New Zealand. In addition, respective national teams have competed in other sports such as indoor bowls, basketball, association football, field hockey and touch football.
Maiden Castle sports centre, also known as the Graham Sports Centre and the Durham University Sport and Wellbeing Park, is the main sports complex at Durham University and the home for many of the university's teams. It also stages professional football as the home of Durham W.F.C. since 2020 and is used as an international venue, including hosting one of the four 2023 Women's EuroHockey Championship Qualifiers tournaments in summer 2022 and the 1995 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. It has been used as a training ground by Hartlepool United since 2021, having previously been used by Newcastle United.