The history of South Africa's netball involvement mirrors that of other sports played in the country like rugby union.

Netball South Africa has worked to help develop the sport in the region in countries like Botswana.

[13] The history of South Africa's netball involvement mirrors that of other sports played in the country like the rugby union.

[14] South Africa was involved with the international netball community early in the sport's history, taking part in the 1960 meeting of Commonwealth countries in Sri Lanka to standardise the rules for the game.

[15][16] When they rejoined the community in the 1990s, internal racial tensions continued to plague the sport on the local level.

[17] Netball has a history of being televised,[13] but printed media has also provided much positive coverage of the sport on national, international, provincial and school levels.

[21] Unlike many non-white schools of the time, it had outdoor facilities with changing rooms for netball, soccer and cricket.

[22] In areas in and around Cape Town, netball was a favourite sport for coloured schools to have because it was the cheapest one to play.

[25] At the time, only 6.6% of black South African students attended school, so their participation in this netball league was small.

[25] Issues like hunger and inadequate housing coupled with lack of facilities and the distance to get to them discouraged young black South African girls from playing the sport.

[26] Secondary issues for black South African women regarding netball arose because of gender struggles in the black South African community; coloured men controlled most aspects of sport for coloured women, who were dependent on them for getting to use existing sport facilities or getting new facilities built.

[27] Despite these issues during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, some dedicated sportswomen worked hard for their sport by organising local leagues and inter-provisional competitions.

He demanded reform in regards to sport, and wanted to allow mixed race teams to compete inside South Africa.

[note 3] At the same congress, Albert Hertzog opposed allowing racially mixed teams from abroad from competing in South Africa.

He specifically spoke of the Maori and claimed that their inclusion on New Zealand touring sides would lead to South African acceptance of social integration.

"[16]The Prime Minister won the battle and mixed race teams were allowed to compete in South Africa.

[16] The strong history of sport competition between New Zealand and South Africa were one of the reasons the Broedrbond plan was passed in April 1971.

[37] In 1969, the All England Netball Association withdrew an invitation it had provided to South Africa to tour the country.

It had eight sport associations under its purview: athletics, cycling, cricket, soccer, weight-lifting, tennis, softball, baseball and netball.

[41] In 1981, there were 104 netball fields compared to six cricket pitches and four athletics tracks in Greater Soweto.

[42] In 1982, the government claimed it was spending ten million rand to build blacks-only sporting facilities.

One of the ways they tried to achieve success and greater acceptance in the white community was by participating in sports such as cricket, netball and rugby.

[28] A lack of a wider community identity hindered the ability of netball to racially integrate in the post-apartheid South Africa.

[9] The success of the South African Springboks in the 1995 Rugby World Cup had a positive impact on support for other South African national teams at international competitions, including the nation's appearance at the 1995 Netball World Championships.

[51] At the Netball World Championship, South Africa provided a major upset when they beat New Zealand in pool play.

[9] In 1995, the South African Police Service (SAPS) held its first National Netball Championships in Pretoria.

[52] The Southern African Development Community has a sport competition with over 600 correctional officers from member countries participating.

[54] On 6 August 2007, Netball South Africa announced an incentive program to get member clubs to comply with racial quota requirements.

The problems of getting facilities for women's sports like netball is still difficult because of Zulu gender constructions, where men are the dominant cultural force.