page_title: Netball in New Zealand
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Netball in New Zealand / History
caption_attribution_description: English: New Zealand Herald netball team from the late 1920s Deutsch: New-Zealand-Herald-Netball-Team in den späten 1920er-Jahren
context_page_description: 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.
  In 2017, 144,358 players were registered with Netball New Zealand, the governing body for organised netball in the country. Organised competition ranges from interschool and local club netball to premier domestic competitions such as the ANZ Premiership, with the pinnacle for netball players in New Zealand being selection for the national team.
context_section_description: Netball was introduced to New Zealand as 'women's basketball' in 1906 or 1907 by Rev. J. C. Jamieson. The game spread across New Zealand through primary and secondary schools, although different playing rules emerged in different areas. By 1923, the first representative match was played between the regions of Canterbury and Wellington. The New Zealand Basketball Association was formed the following year, representing the first national governing body for netball. The first New Zealand National Tournament was held two years later in 1926. A New Zealand national team was named in 1938 to tour Australia; games were played with the Australian seven-a-side rules (cf. nine-a-side in New Zealand).
  Attempts to adopt an international standard of rules for netball were made in earnest in 1957 in England, along with the formation of an international netball body, the International Federation of Netball Associations. Prior to this, New Zealand and Australia had worked out their own unified rules, in places making reference to netball rules in England. New Zealand national teams played seven-a-side, while domestic teams continued to play nine-a-side. However, the new international rules of netball were agreed upon in 1958, and universally applied in New Zealand by 1961. The first Netball World Championships took place in 1963 in England, with Australia defeating New Zealand in the finals.
  In 1970, New Zealand became the last country to adopt the name 'netball', which until that time was still referred to as 'women's basketball'. Eventually, the New Zealand Netball Association was formed from the New Zealand Basketball Association. The 1970s saw an increase in regular tours by the New Zealand national team to other countries, as well as other national teams touring New Zealand. Domestically, mid-week netball became popular amongst housewives, who brought their children with them to netball games. By 1977, 6,058 senior teams and 2,816 primary school teams were registered with the New Zealand Netball Association. New Zealand hosted the fourth Netball World Championships in 1975, coming third behind England and Australia.
  In 1991, the New Zealand Netball Association changed its name to the current 'Netball New Zealand'. In 1998, the Silver Ferns won a silver medal when netball became a medal sport at the Commonwealth Games for the first time in Kuala Lumpur; a gold medal would come eight years later in Melbourne. That year also saw the formation of a revamped national netball competition, with ten new teams representing twelve regional entities (each representing one or more regions) across New Zealand, in what became known as the National Bank Cup.
  The ANZ Championship came about in 2008 to replace the National Bank Cup. At this time, the trans-Tasman league, became a semi-professional sport.
  In 2017, a new era of Netball in New Zealand began- the ANZ Premiership became New Zealand's new elite Netball League. This competition replaced the previous trans-Tasman league, the ANZ Championship. ANZ Premiership features six teams; SKYCITY Mystics, Northern Stars, Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, Central Pulse, Silvermoon Tactix and Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel. The Southern Steel were the 2017 champions.
caption: New Zealand Herald's netball team from the late 1920s
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