History of netball
At the Madame Österberg Physical Training College Dartford, England, the rules of women's basketball were modified over several years to form an entirely new sport: "net ball".
The first codified rules of netball were published at the start of the twentieth century, and from there the new sport spread throughout the British Empire.
International matches were played sporadically in the early 20th century, but were hampered by varying rules in different countries.
Today, netball is popular in Commonwealth nations, and also in the Republic of Ireland, and is reportedly played by over 20 million people worldwide.
[4] Berenson devised rules that maintained feminine decorum and slowed down potentially "strenuous" play.
[3] Published rules for women's basketball first appeared in 1895, written by Clara Gregory Baer, who was working as a physical education instructor at Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans during the 1890s.
Baer introduced women's basketball to her female students at Sophie Newcomb College as early as 1893.
[7] She also forbade dribbling of the ball and guarding, introduced alternating offensive/defensive roles after each goal was scored, and developed rules to maintain elegant posture among players.
Basketball was first introduced to England in 1892 through the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) at Birkenhead in Merseyside, although the sport did not gain significant popularity in that country for another two decades.
[13] Basketball was more formally introduced to Madame Österberg's college by an American lecturer, Dr Toles (alternatively spelled "Toll"), in 1895.
[14] The rules of this game were modified at Madame Österberg's college (which moved to Dartford, Kent in 1895) over several years.
Substantial revisions were made during a visit in 1897 from another American teacher, Miss Porter, who introduced rules from women's basketball in the United States; the game also moved outdoors onto grass courts, the playing court was divided into three zones, and the baskets were replaced with rings that had nets.
"Women's basketball" arrived in Australia reportedly as early as 1897,[8] although most sources agree that it was established in that country around the start of the 20th century.
[24] Competitive netball in the early 20th century mostly comprised local leagues or nationwide domestic tournaments.
[16] Following the 1956 Australian tour of England, the first efforts were made in earnest to establish unifying international rules for netball.
The most recent tournament was the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, with Australia emerging as winners.
[26] During the 1988 Australian Bicentenary celebrations, a youth netball tournament was organised in Canberra involving U-21 teams from around the world on 15–24 July.
[27] This tournament proved to be a success, and has continued to be held roughly every four years, presently as the World Youth Netball Championships.
A campaign in England was started in 2008 for netball to be included as a demonstration sport at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which was supported by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Increased international competition led to the development of the INF World Rankings in 2008, in which the performances of national teams could be compared.
The Australian and New Zealand national teams have traditionally dominated the international game, although England and Jamaica are becoming increasingly competitive against their Antipodean counterparts.
These competitions have usually involved franchises rather than club or representative teams, and have focused on gaining a larger profile for the sport, as well as attracting greater sponsorship, investment and media coverage.
The Commonwealth Bank Trophy was televised on ABC Sport, although coverage was usually limited to a few live games and a weekly highlights series.
[35] Unlike its counterpart in Australia, the National Bank Cup received wide media coverage in New Zealand.
It replaced the previous Super Cup, which started in England in 2001,[37] and was established to improve performances on the domestic and international stages.
