Netball Information

• Netball Clubs in the Australian Capital Territory – ACT
• Netball Clubs in New South Wales – NSW
• Netball Clubs in the Northern Territory – NT
• Netball Clubs in Queensland – QLD

• Netball Clubs in South Australia – SA
• Netball Clubs in Tasmania – TAS
• Netball Clubs in Victoria – VIC
• Netball Clubs in Western Australia – WA

Introduction
Netball is a popular global sport which is played between two teams, each consisting of seven players. Netball is actually derived from Basketball, and it began to be played in 1890s in England. In 1960s, formal rules and regulations were established for this game, and the formation of International Netball Federation (INF) took place. By 2011, the INF is now comprised of above 60 national teams which are further divided into 5 global regions.

This game is played on a rectangular court and has high goal posts at the each end. Both teams play to attempt for goals, which requires taking the ball down the court and then shooting it through the opposite team’s goal ring. Every player plays according to his/her specific positions, which have defining roles for the player within the ground, and it restricts their free movement. When a game is being played, a player cannot hold the ball for more than three seconds and then it has to shoot or pass it to other player. The team scoring highest number of goals is declared winner. Each game is sixty minutes long. To increase and entertain the audience, different variants have been introduced in the game over the time.

Commonwealth Nations have the highest popularity in the game of Netball. The most number of players can be found in schools, college and those areas that have high women ratio. INF report states that netball is played in more than 80 countries worldwide and there are more than 20 million players.
 

Netball History
As mentioned earlier, netball was basically a developed form of Basketball and it started to evolve around as another sport when the women players increased substantially. In 1891, James Naismith invented netball in USA. At that time, it was usually be played indoors and the team consisted of 9 players, and they used to use football as their primary ball. The game of Naismiths quickly gained popularity across the USA and then different variations emerged with passage of time. A famous instructor of physical education Senda Berenson invented many new rules for the women in the year 1892, which gave rise to the women’s basketball. During this time period colleges started to apply their own rules for their inter-colleges tournaments.

Those different rules were then consolidated into universal rules in the USA. In the early period, netball was considered as a taboo for women and it was disliked by the society for women to play netball. Netball was a different sport than the other males dominated sports. But sooner, Netball became popular where schools used to have netball teams. The school league competitions and other domestic competitions began in the first half of the 20th century. In the year 1924, the very first national organizing body was established in New Zealand.

After every four years, a World Netball Championship is played and the last one was played in 2011. Another imperative championship of World Youth Netball was started in 1988 in Canberra and is also held after every four years. Netball is also a recognized Olympic sport since 1995 when Olympics committee approved it. After three years in 1998, it also got recognition in Commonwealth games in Malaysia. Later in 20th century many other international tournaments also emerged such as Asian Netball cup and Nations cup etc.

Gender
Since 2006, INF only recognizes and deals with women’s netball. In some countries their also exist men teams of netball but they get very less attention and sponsors, and also fewer audience. In 1980s men netball did get some fame and recognition in Australia and there was holding of the first Men championship in 1985. In the year 2004, New Zealand along with Fiji sent their teams to compete in tournament of Australian Mix and Men’s national championships. By the year 2006, participants in the mixed netball were almost equal to the participants in the rugby union. Canada, Kenya, Pakistan, UAE, Jamaica and Fiji also have their men national netball teams. However men teams does not get as much funds as women’s get and are mainly self funded.
 

Rules and Regulations
The main objective of this game is just like any other game i.e. score more as many goals and beat the opposite team with higher number of goals. A goal is scored when a player of a team who is at the position of attacking circle of shoots, shoots the ball all the way through the goal ring. The area of the goal ring is 380 mm in diameter and it has 10 ft high goal posts which do not have backboards.

The shooting circle comprises of a 4.9 meter radius and is present at both ends of the court. The goal posts are positioned at the shooting circle. Every team defends its shooting circle and has a task to attack the other shooting circle. The court of the netball is 30.5 meters long and is 15.25 meters wide while divided into length into thirds. The ball is normally made by leather or sometimes rubber, and is normally of 700 mm in circumference, and weights about 400 -450 grams. Each game has 4 quarters of 15 minutes each and can be played indoor or outdoor both.

There are seven players on both sides. Each player has a defined position and limited area to move. Each player wears a ‘bib’ which contains two letters which tells about position of that specific player. Only two players are allowed it be inside the shooting circle and therefore those are the only ones who can shoot the goal. Likewise, there are only two positions in the defensive shooting circle as well, who have the task of defending the goal to happen by the opposite team. While the rest of the players are contained in 2/3 of the court, while centre having the exception, which can move anywhere he wants except for the attacking shooting circle.

After every goal is scored or the beginning of each quarter, the game starts when the player in centre position pass the ball from the centre to the court. These are called centre passes which keep the ball alternate between both teams, regardless of the fact that which team scored the last goal. When the whistle is blown by the empire, the four players from both of the teams are allowed to move to the centre third in order to get the pass. The centre pass should be touched or caught in the centre third. Then, the ball is moved up and down in the premises of court by passing and it should be at least touched by some player in each of the adjacent third of the court. Three seconds is the maximum time players are allowed to hold the ball.

The ball must be released before their foot on which they were standing when they received the ball touches the ground. The two players can contact with each other only if they are not causing hindrance to the opposite team or the overall game. While a pass is defended or during shooting the player should be at least 90 cm away from the person who has in hold of the ball. If there is illegal contact, then the player who did the contact will not be allowed to participate in game until the time that the player who is taking the penalty has passed the ball or shot the ball. If the ball was held in two hands and was shot or dropped and the goal was misses, then the exact same player cannot be the first one to touch the ball unless it rebounds off the goal first.
 

Varieties of Netball
Indoor netball has various varieties, sometimes played inside sometimes in an open stadium. Let us review a few of them.

Indoor Netball:
In indoor netball, the court is surrounded on both sides and is overhead by a net. The purpose of the net is to prevent the ball from exiting the court and allowing quicker play by decreasing the stoppages. There are various forms of indoor netball. In the seven a side version which is commonly known as action netball, there are seven players on both the sides while the rules are quite the same. But one difference is that along with the 15 minutes quarter, there is an additional 3 minutes break included. This type of version is common in Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand.

Then there is another six a side version which is also common in New Zealand. There are two centers in both teams allowed in the whole court with the exception of the shooting circles, while the defending and attacking players are restricted from one half of the court, also including the shooting circle. The centre and attacking players can shoot also from outside of the shooting circle for a goal with two points. Then, there also exists a five a side version which is normally referred as indoor netball. In that version the players are allowed to move throughout the court again with the exception of the shooting circles, which are then abstained to specific attacking and defending players.

Fast 5:
Fast 5 or sometimes referred as Fast net is another variant of the netball game that is designed to make this game more and more fast and also television friendly. The world netball series is the one that promotes this type to raise the profile of netball and to attract more and more audience along with more sponsorship. This variant of netball is much short with each quarter comprising of only six minutes and a two minute break between each quarter. The coaches are allowed to give instructions from outside the boundary even during the playtime, and there can be infinite substitutions in the game. Just like the six a side indoor version, the attacking players can shoot goal having two points if they shoot from outside the shooting circle. Each team can nominate separately one power play quarter, in which the every goal that is scored by that tem will be worth double points and the centre pass is then taken by that team who scored the goal.

Netball for Children:
Netball has adopted many different versions that can attract and meet the demands of children play. Normally, the regulations for children are almost same as the ones for adults, but there are certain aspects of the netball that are modified such as the height of the goal, the size of the ball and length of quarter.

A special version named as Fun net was developed by Netball Australia for the kids in the range of 5-7 years. It’s basic aim to enhance the skills and promote the sports activities in children. The fun net program is run every year for 8-16 weeks. The different aspect is that it does not involve any winner or loser. The height of the goal posts is only 2.4 meters while a ball similar to the normal one is used.
 

Governance
The international recognized governing body of netball is IFNA (International Federation of Netball Associations) which is headquartered in Manchester, UK. It was founded in the year 1960, and at that time it was known as International Federation of Netball & Women’s Basketball. The world rankings of national teams, directing rules and arranging major international tournaments, all comes under the responsibilities of IFNA. Until July 2012, there were 24 associate and 49 full national members in IFNA divided into 5 regions. All regions have their regional IFNA.

International Competitions
The world cup is the cup played between the six best national teams as ranked by the INF. It is arranged by the INF in collaborations of the national governing bodies. Netball Super league is the major and most popular netball tournament in Europe and it features nine teams from Scotland, England and Wales. The Asian Netball Championship is also held after 4 years. Participants include Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, Taiwan, Pakistan, India, Srilanka and Hong Kong.
 

Netball in Australia
Netball is one of the best women’s sports in Australia. There were around 347,000 players in the team in 1985. The figure was changed to 360,000 netball players in 1995. Netball has remained a sport of participation in Australia; however it has not managed to be a very successful sport. The number of players started increasing tremendously over time. In 2005-06, it became most famous women sports in Australia.

The Australian netball team has become very successful in international netball sport. The first netball championship which was won by Australian netball team was in 1963 in England. It has managed to win nine out of twelve Netball World Championship tournaments. Australia is the current world champions in netball. Australian Diamonds have been placed at the first position on IFNA World Rankings. In July 2009, Australia beat Silver Ferns and won the World Youth Netball Championship, which was held in Cook Island. There is a men’s netball national team as well. it has played in the Mixed Netball and International Men’s tournament in 2009.