Netball History

The game Netball, which was known as "Women's Basket Ball" in Australia until as recently as 1970, appears to have been derived from the men's game of basketball which was invented in America in 1871. The game of "Basketball" was introduced into England in 1890, but at that time it made little impression in men's sporting circles where the more traditional games of soccer, rugby and cricket were firmly entrenched. Women liked the game despite the fact that their long skirts, bustle backs, nipped waists and button up shoes impeded running on the court and their "leg of mutton" sleeves restricted arm movement and made dribbles and long passes difficult to execute! So the ladies decided to adapt the game to suit their circumstances. They divided the court into thirds and introduced a rule that the ball must be caught or touched at least once in each third and no-one was allowed to run with the ball which established restricted playing areas for each position, added more players (making nine players in each team - later reduced to seven), got rid of that unsightly backboard by allowing five seconds (later reduced to three) to shoot for goal and modified the goal ring to suit the smaller sized soccer ball and created "NETBALL". Although the first set of rules was not published until 1901, the Chambers Encyclopedia of Sports Records showed that the first game of Netball was played in England in 1892, on grass with clothesprops for goal posts and paper bags for baskets! As far as we can tell, the game was brought to Australia by English school teachers in the early 1900's. In NSW the earliest photograph on record is of the Parramatta Superior Schools' teams in 1904. In Victoria it is on record that an Inter-School seven-a side basketball competition was conducted in primary schools in 1913. The games were also played in secondary schools and in 1915 two male teachers are said to have put rules on paper for State schools. As the game advanced baskets were used, but until someone realised it was best that they were open at the bottom- the umpires would have to use a ladder or shimmy up the pole to retrieve the ball after a goal was scored. Some game organisers were a little more advanced and would use another pole to tilt the basket. The rules of the game have changed dramatically from those early days. Playing areas were more restricted and defence almost non-existent. When a player was shooting for goal the defender would have to just stand and watch as defence of the shot just was not allowed. Yet enthusiasm for netball remained keen. Associations emerged to conduct competition matches within each State and began interstate visits. In 1926 an interstate tournament was established and has been held every year since (except for 1937 due to a polio epidemic and during the War, 1940 &endash; 1945). In 1927 the ALL AUSTRALIA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION was formed and in 1992 the National Association celebrated its 60th National Championships. In 1970 the name of the game was changed to "NETBALL" and the Association became known as it is today - the ALL AUSTRALIA NETBALL ASSOCIATION trading as NETBALL AUSTRALIA.