HISTORY OF NETBALL

In 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts a 30-year-old Canadian immigrant to the

USA, James Naismith, was ordered to invent an indoor game for high-spirited
young men at the School for Christian Workers (later the YMCA).

Most games tried ended with injury rates of staggering proportions! So,
Naismith conjured up a game whereby a ball had to be lobbed into a high
peach basket (his reasoning being that if a ball had to dropped into the “goal”,
it couldn’t be thrown at breakneck speed).

Basketball was born, with the original game featuring nine players – three
forwards, three centres and three guards – simply because Naismith had 18
youths to keep amused.

Women’s indoor basketball began exactly two days later when female teachers
to the gym were captivated by the game, but it wasn’t until 1895 that the
current game of netball was well and truly shaped. When Clara Baer, a sports
teacher in New Orleans, wrote to Naismith asking for a copy of the rules, the
subsequent rules package contained a drawing of the court with lines pencilled
across it, simply to show the areas various players could best patrol. But Baer
misinterpreted the lines and thought players couldn’t leave those areas! In
1899 her mistake was ratified into the rules of women’s basketball as zones.

Three-bounce dribbling had quickly been extended in the men’s game (which
didn’t have no-go zones), but it was seldom used in the women’s version when
it reached Britain and the Empire. In fact, there was no pressure to increase
that form of ball movement and in the end dribbling simply ceased to exist.

Netball was first played in England in 1895 at Madame Ostenburg’s College. In

the first half of the 20th century, Netball’s popularity continued to grow, with
the game being played in many British Commonwealth countries. There were
no standard rules at that time with both nine-a-side and five-a-side versions of
the game.

During an Australian tour of England in 1957, discussions took place concerning

standardising the rules of the sport and this led to representatives from
England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and The West Indies meeting in
Sri Lanka in 1960, to establish The International Federation of Women’s
Basketball and Netball. Formal rules were established at this inaugural
meeting, and it was decided to hold World Championship tournaments every
four years, beginning in Eastbourne, England, in 1963.

Since then, World Championships have been held in Australia 1967, Jamaica
1971, New Zealand 1975, Trinidad & Tobago 1979, Singapore 1983, Scotland
1987, Australia 1991, England 1995 and New Zealand 1999. Throughout this
period, Australia has dominated, winning the event in 1971, 1975, 1979, 1983,
1991, 1995 and 1999. The 2003 World Netball Championships in Kingston,
Jamaica saw New Zealand finally breaking the Australian dominance taking
Gold. The 2007 World Netball Championships was due to take place in Fiji but
a political coup in the country led to the event being transferred to Auckland,
New Zealand. Despite the home advantage, New Zealand were unable to
defend their crown and Australia were once more World Champions. Australia
retained their title in 2011 in Singapore and in 2015 in Sydney.

As part of the Australian Bicentenary Celebrations in 1988, a Youth

Tournament took place in Canberra, for players aged under 21. Its success led
to this event being held once every four years. Fiji hosted the 2nd World Youth
Netball Championship, Canada the 3rd and the 4th has just taken place in
Wales. Australia were winners in 1988, New Zealand in 1992 and Australia
again in 1996 and 2000. At the 2005 World Youth Netball Championship, held
in Florida New Zealand Won Gold, England Silver and Australia took the
Bronze.

In 1995 Netball became a “recognized” sport of the International Olympic

Committee (IOC) and one of the Federation’s objectives is to ensure this status
is retained and to encourage the International Olympic Committee to include
Netball in the Olympic Games Programme in the future.

Netball was included in the Commonwealth Games programme, for the first
time, in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, where Australia took the Gold medal, New
Zealand Silver and England the Bronze. It was also a programmed sport in 2002
Commonwealth Games in Manchester (England), where Australia again took
the Gold medal, New Zealand Silver and Jamaica edging out England for the
Bronze. In 2006 (Melbourne, Australia) and 2010 (Delhi, India) New Zealand
beat Australia and England won the bronze medal. Netball is now a core sport
in the Commonwealth Games, with the next editions taking place in The Gold
Coast, 2018.

2008 saw the launch of Fast Net World Netball Series, a shorter, sharper
version of the game which in 2012 evolved into Fast5, attracting new
audiences around the globe.

2012 also saw the sport’s governing body unveil a new logo and renamed itself
as the International Netball Federation (INF). We hope that you will join us on
Netball’s journey to the future.

History of Netball - World Netball`

The basic rules of Netball.
1. You cannot travel with the ball.
2. There are always only 7 players on court from each team unless a player has been sent off
by the referee.
3. You cannot snatch or hit the ball out of a player’s hands. This is called contact. You must
stand beside the player until the ball has left the players hands.

4. When defending the ball, you must stand 3 feet away from the person with the ball.

5. Players cannot hold the ball for more than 3 seconds. This includes throwing it the air, no-
one else touches it and you catch it again. Or bouncing the ball.

6. Players are not allowed to move into the areas that they are not designated to.

7. When the defence in the circle are called up by the referee, they have to stand beside the
shooter. The shooter has the decision of shooting the ball or passing the ball.

8. When the ball goes out of court, the team who last touched the ball hands the ball over to
the opposing team. They have 3 seconds to stand outside of the court at the line where it went
out and pass the ball.
 NETBALL COURT DIMENSION
Netball court dimensions can differ depending on a variety of
factors including the size of the area and the budget of the person
purchasing the facility, however generally the dimensions are 30.5m
in length (side-lines) x 15.25m in width (goal lines). Netball is played
on a hard surface both indoors and outdoors, and this surface is
divided into 3 sections which consist of two goal thirds and the
centre third. These sections all equally measure in at 10.17m on a
typical court.

To find out more about prices for the different surface types that we
offer, please get in touch via our quick enquiry form and we'll send
you some further details along with a cost estimate.
THE MAIN POSITONS

What is the main position in a game of netball?

Accuracy in passing and predicting where the ball
will go are keys to playing this position well. The
Fast5 variation of netball only has five positions:
goal shooter (GS), goal attack (GA), centre (C),
goal defence (GD), and goal keeper (GK).
Netball equipment
What do you usually need to play Netball? Across all formats, even though the
original lasts for 90 minutes, the game of Netball requires a minimum of
equipment. Firstly, unlike a racquet sport, there is no equipment that players
need to keep in their capacity or buy it. Here’s the list of equipment that you’ll
need to play netball.

 Goalposts
 Court
 The Netball itself
 Clothing and Kit

Court
The court needs to be in particular dimensions and shape namely

1. Rectangle
2. Firm and not uneven
3. Wood (Most often)
For professional leagues, netball players are advised to use sprung wooden
floors, which has some rubber or foam underneath it. That’s because it
absorbs the shock, thereby giving the flooring a bit of spring for the players to
work on.

Even though the above is the prescribed ones, it generally doesn’t matter what
court you play in, but keep a note that space should be safe enough to play,
not cause injuries, and have ample spaces to pen down your marks. Mostly,
netball leagues have a pre-requirement of the court sizes to be in the ratio of
100 ft length and 50 ft width proportion.

Marking the court is essential. Firstly, dividing the court into three equal parts.
The courts have a 3 ft circle right in the middle of the court, also more
profoundly known as centre circle. The goal circle at each end of the court is
marked with a radius of 16 feet.
You may also want to consider having a bench zone right beside the court.
That’s the area where the officials and team players can take shelter in. On the
opposite side is where traditionally, the audience and media are provided with
seating arrangements.

Goalposts
The goalposts are an essential part of the goal circle. Usually, at professional
levels, the goalposts are made of a metal ring made from a steel rod. The
height of the goalpost is 15 inches in diameter. The metal ring should
compulsorily have a net that can be viewed crystal clear by all the players and
goes without saying, should be open from the top and bottom. The reason for
using a net is that it helps with the visibility of the posts for all players.

Netball
The ball is the essential element of playing Netball. Netballs are usually
purchased from online stores and local sports shops, but the professional balls
are generally bought from big manufacturers. The professional leagues use a
spherical match ball with a circumference of 27 inches. Now on to the critical
part, the material of the netball concerned.

The ball is usually made either of leather, rubber, or the most commonly
availably synthetic material. While one ball is essential to play the game, it’s
also generally advisable to keep a spare ball of the same kind in case of loss,
tear and wear, etc.

The umpires will compulsorily check the condition of the ball before the game
commences.

Clothing and Kit

Moving on from equipment, we take a look at the kind of gear that a netball
player needs to wear.
The most important aspect of the kit is that the playing position and the name
should be easily visible above the waist. In the front as well as the back. The
height of the initials should approximately be around six inches in height and
have clear visibility.

Mostly, there’s a blanket rule that each player must compulsorily wear this as a
bib throughout the game. It also includes the break time between the
quarters. Removal may lead to a penalty from the umpire. The initials for each
position are pretty the same. For Goal Shooter, it’s GS, so for the rest of the six
positions, the same logic applies to use the first letters of both the two words.

In terms of material of the kit, most of the teams generally opt for some
bright-coloured tops, polos or jerseys, and women; it’s with skirts or shorts.
Some of the most popular materials that are used for netball are ultra-mesh,
lycra, micro-mesh. The reason being that these kinds of fabrics allow air to
circulate and maintain breathability for the players.

All in all, these were the essential equipment that you need to collect and buy
if you want to play Netball. Don’t worry, if you’re not a professional and you
still intend to play Netball, all you need is a group of people, a netball, two
goal posts just a solid ground to kick it off!

References:

Netball Equipment: https://www.myactivesg.com/Sports/Netball/How-To-
Play/Netball-Equipment/What-equipment-do-I-need-for-netball
Equipment needed for Netball: https://bestsportslounge.com/equipment-
needed-netball