It is one of a few sports created exclusively for women and girls and remains primarily played by them, on indoor and outdoor courts, especially in schools, and most popularly in the Commonwealth of Nations.

Netball's development traces back to American sports teacher Clara Gregory Baer's misinterpretation of the basketball rule book in 1895.

In the beginning it was also described as "women's basketball" but by 1897 it started to evolve into a distinctly separate sport based on modifications developed at Bergman-Österberg's college combined with Baer's rules.

Netball differs in many ways from basketball, principally in the absence of the backboards from the hoop or goal ring and the prohibition of dribbling, bouncing, and running while in possession of the ball.

The ball is usually made of leather or rubber, measures 680 to 710 millimetres (27 to 28 in) in circumference (≈22 centimetres (8.7 in) in diameter), and weighs 397 to 454 grams (14.0 to 16.0 oz).

When the umpire blows the whistle to restart play, four players from each team can move into the centre third to receive the pass.

Basketball, invented in 1891, was initially played indoors between two teams of nine players, using an association football that was thrown into closed-end peach baskets.

[28] Clara Baer was a sports teacher living in New Orleans when she wrote to Naismith asking for a copy of the rules for his game of basketball.

[29] Martina Bergman-Österberg introduced a version of basketball in 1893 to her female students at the Physical Training College in Hampstead, London.

Variations of the rules and even names for the sport arose in different areas: "women's (outdoor) basketball" arrived in Australia around 1900 and in New Zealand from 1906,[33][35] while "netball" was being played in Jamaican schools by 1909.

School leagues and domestic competitions emerged during the first half of the 20th century,[38][39] and in 1924 the first national governing body was established in New Zealand.

[13] Representatives from England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the West Indies were part of a 1960 meeting in Sri Lanka that standardised the rules for the game.

[49] During the 1950s and 1960s, a movement arose to change the Australian name of the game from women's basketball to netball in order to avoid confusion between the two sports.

The Australian Basketball Union offered to pay the costs involved to alter the name, but the netball organisation rejected the change.

[50] Following the first tournament, one of the organisers, Miss R. Harris, declared,England could learn from the mistakes in the past from the empty stands at Eastbourne.

[54][53] Other countries with men's national teams include Canada, Fiji, Jamaica, Kenya, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

[58] At the Gay Games VI in Sydney in 2000, netball and volleyball were the two sports with the highest rates of transgender athletes participating.

In a seven-per-side version called "action netball", seven players per team play most standard rules, except a game is split into fifteen-minute halves around a three-minute break.

The World Netball Series promotes it to raise the sport's profile and attract more spectators and greater sponsorship.

The rules for children are similar to those for adults, but various aspects of the game (such as the length of each quarter, goal height, and ball size) are modified.

[13] The INF is responsible for compiling world rankings for national teams, maintaining the rules for netball and organising several major international competitions.

[82][83] Non-Commonwealth entities with full IFNA membership include Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Argentina, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the United States, along with former Commonwealth members Zimbabwe, Ireland and Hong Kong.

School leagues and national club competitions have been organised in England,[85] Australia,[33] New Zealand[35] and Jamaica[36] since the early twentieth century.

It features eight regional teams from South Africa and is aimed at increasing the amount of playing time for players.

The seventh Asian games were held in 2009 and featured Singapore, Thailand, Maldives, Taiwan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, India and Pakistan.

The ANZ Championship saw netball become a semi-professional sport in both countries, with increased media coverage and player salaries.

Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australian and New Zealand teams, which hold ten and four titles, respectively.

That title, won in 1979, was shared with New Zealand and Australia; all three teams finished with equal points at the end of the round robin, and there were no finals.

[110][111] A new format featuring shorter matches with modified rules was designed to make the game more appealing to spectators and television audiences.

[113][114] Its absence from the Olympics has been seen by the netball community as a hindrance in the global growth of the game by limiting access to media attention and funding sources.