Netball in Australia

Netball is a ball sport derived from basketball that originated at the turn of the twentieth century. It is played in over eighty nations and is most popular among women. Netball games are played on a rectangular court with raised goal rings. The goal of the game is to score points by moving the ball down the court and through the goal ring. The winning team is the one that scores the most goals. Major netball leagues include Suncorp Super Netball in Australia and the ANZ Premiership in New Zealand, two countries that dominate the sport in international play.

Origins and History

James Naismith invented basketball in the United States in 1891, and as the sport grew in popularity, variants, especially for women, began to be developed in tandem. One variant was developed by Martina Bergman-Österberg, a pioneer of women's physical education, in Hampstead, London, between 1895 and 1897. This version was played outdoors and used rings with nets as goals (basketball had not yet adopted netted rings). Österberg's sport came to be called 'netball', and the first official rules for the game were codified in 1901. Instantly the sport found eager female players and within seven years had spread across the British Empire to the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand. The sport thrived among female players due in part to the game's inherently restricted form of movement, which played into popular notions of appropriate female exertion, and the lack of strong competition from rival male leagues and clubs.

The first international netball competition was held in 1938, when Australia hosted the New Zealand national team. Australia won that game 40–11. By 1960 a set of international standardised rules was introduced, and the international Netball Federation was established. In 1963 the first international championship series was held in England, and the World Netball Championships have been held every four years since. In 1995 netball was recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee.

Rules and Regulations

Netball is played on a court 30.5 metres long and 15.25 metres wide. The court is split lengthwise into thirds with two goal rings on opposite sides. The objective of the game is to score the most goals by shooting the ball through the goal while in the shooting circle at its base. Each team is tasked with defending its own goal ring while attacking the opposing team over the course of four fifteen-minute-long quarters. Teams consist of seven players, each assigned a specific position which limits their movement and area on the court. Players are divided into offensive and defensive positions, with only two players from each team being allowed to shoot at a goal. At the beginning of each quarter, and following a successful goal, play begins with the player in the centre position passing the goal. The ball is passed from player to player across the court, toward the goal. A player may only hold the ball for three seconds before passing.

Netball is a no-contact sport, and therefore players are prohibited from making any physical contact that may impede an opponent from general play. Illegal contact results in penalties, such as transfer of possession of the ball. If the ball is dropped or a goal is missed, the player who last touched the ball cannot be the first to touch it again unless it first rebounds.

Variants of netball include indoor, six-per-side and five-per-side versions. A version of netball called Fast5, or Fastnet, is a sped-up version of the game, consisting of four six-minute quarters, which also allows players to shoot for two-point goals outside the shooting circle.

Top Athletes

Australia and New Zealand have come to dominate the sport of netball, winning international championships and producing some of the finest athletes in the game's history. Anne Sargeant, active in the sport in the 1970s and 1980s, played as a shooter for the Australian national team, serving as its captain for six years. As leader of the national team she led Australia to four international titles and posted three consecutive 100 per cent shooting games in 1985. Bianca Chatfield, who debuted in 2001, led the Australian national team to the gold medal in the 2007 Netball World Championship and the 2014 Commonwealth Games. A fearless defender, Chatfield was consistently named most valuable player by her regional team, the Melbourne Vixens, before retiring in 2014. Catherine Cox, born in New Zealand and most active in the first decade of the twenty-first century, was a powerhouse player for the Australian national team, earning recognition and awards in the sport all throughout her career. One of only four players with more than one hundred test matches, Cox helped lead the Australian team to the championship in 2007 and 2011. Irene van Dyk, active between 1994 and 2014, began by playing for South Africa but in 2000 became one of New Zealand's top athletes. One of the best shooters in the game, van Dyk often managed to shoot at 100 per cent accuracy, winning gold at the World Netball Championships in 2003, the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and 2010 and the World Netball Series in 2009 and 2012.

Bibliography

Davis, Luke, and Damien Davis. Netball. Macmillan Education, 2006.

Dix, Noleen. Australian Netball Skills. Five Mile Press, 1984.

Murray, Peter. Netball, the International Sport. Murray Books, 2008.

Thompson, Shona M. "Women and Sport in New Zealand." Sport and Women: Social Issues in International Perspective, edited by Gertrud Pfister and Ilse Hartmann-Tews, Routledge, 2002.

Woodlands-Thompson, Jane. The Netball Handbook. Human Kinetics, 2006.