History of Netball - Australia

After the invention of Basketball in the USA in 1891, it was introduced to England in 1885 by American, Dr. Toles, many of the Englishmen preferred their own traditional sports, however, it was quite popular among the ladies

In England in 1896, the ladies were using broomsticks as posts and wet paper bags for baskets and were playing the game on grass. Their long skirts and sleeves made running slower and dribbling, running and long passes more difficult. They soon adapted the game to accustom these restrictions.

In approximately 1897 netball (known as women's basketball) was introduced into Australia and New Zealand via England

In August 1927 the Australian Women's Basketball Association was formed.

The first official national championships were held in Melbourne in 1928 - although a number of interstate matches had taken place previously.

Australia defeated New Zealand 40-11 at Australia's first international match which was played in 1938 against New Zealand during the National Championships in Melbourne.

A landmark in the History of netball was when the Australian team travelled by ship to be the first overseas sporting team to visit England. They had to combine and adapt rules but the Australian team won 54 of the 57 games, including a major test against England (14-11) at Wemberly Stadium.

Following the success of the 1952 tour, a conference was held in London in 1957 to agree on an international Code of Rules. The countries represented at the Conference were; England, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, South Africa, USA, Wales and Australia.

In 1963, the first World Tournament was held in England with 11 competing countries/teams. Australia was undefeated.

In 1970 'Womens Basketball' was officially renamed to Netball in Australia and New Zealand.