World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation and the International Federation of Netball Associations, is the worldwide governing body for Netball. The INF was created in 1960[1] and is responsible for world rankings, maintaining the rules for netball and organising the Netball World Cup and Netball at the Commonwealth Games

World Netball
AbbreviationWN
Formation1960; 64 years ago (1960)
TypeInternational sport federation
HeadquartersMediaCityUK, Salford, Greater Manchester, England
Region served
Worldwide
Membership (2022)
65 full members
23 associate members
President
Liz Nicholl
Vice-President
Shirley Hooper
CEO
Clare Briegal
Websitenetball.sport

In June 2021 INF announced an official rebrand and became known as World Netball.[2][3][4]

General information

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The organisation is based in Manchester, England.[5] The INF has over 70 national members which are grouped into five regional areas: Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and Oceania.[5] The INF is governed by a congress that meets every two years, a board of directors that meets three times a year, a chief executive officer and a Secretariat.[5] It is also responsible for providing world rankings for national representative teams.[6] The INF organises several major international competitions including the Netball World Cup and Netball World Youth Cup.[7] It is also a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code.[8]

History

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In 1957, a pair of national netball organisations discussed the need to create an international governing body for the sport to help address issues like standardising the rules. This conversation was started between England and Australia, while Australia was touring England. In 1960, netball representatives from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies finally gathered to create the needed organisation, the International Federation of Women's Basketball and Netball. The meeting took place in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), with rules for the newly creating organisation being created. A decision was made at this first meeting create a world championship competition for the sport to be held every four years, with the first event to be held in 1963 in Eastbourne, England.

The organisation has since undergone lies several changes. After all countries adopted the name "netball" for the sport, the organisation was renamed the "International Federation of Netball Associations" (IFNA). This name was used until November 2012, when the organisation changed to its current name, the "International Netball Federation" (INF), to bring it in line with other sports governing bodies.

Netball World Cup

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The INF is responsible for organising the Netball World Cup (formerly the World Netball Championships), the premier event in international netball, held every four years.[9] The table below contains a list of these championships/cups, where they took place and how many teams competed in the event and the winners.

Year Location Number of teams Winner
1963 Details[10][11] Eastbourne, England[12][13] 11 Australia
1967 Details[11] Perth, Australia 8 New Zealand
1971 Details[11] Kingston, Jamaica[9] 9 Australia
1975 Details[11] Auckland, New Zealand[9][13] 11 Australia
1979 Details[11] Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 19 New Zealand, Australia, Trinidad & Tobago
1983 Details[11] Singapore City, Singapore[9][14] 14 Australia
1987 Details[11] Glasgow, Scotland 17 New Zealand
1991 Details[11] Sydney, Australia 20 Australia
1995 Details[11] Birmingham, England 27 Australia
1999 Details[11] Christchurch, New Zealand[9][13] 26 Australia
2003 Details[11] Kingston, Jamaica[15] 24 New Zealand
2007 Details[11] Auckland, New Zealand[13] 16 Australia
2011 Details[11] Singapore, Singapore 16 Australia
2015 Details[11] Sydney, Australia 16 Australia
2019 Details[11] Liverpool, England 16 New Zealand
2023 Details[11] Cape Town, South Africa 16 Australia

Netball World Youth Cup

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The INF is responsible for organising the Netball World Youth Cup (formerly the World Youth Netball Championships), the premier event in international netball, held every four years in a year other than that of the Netball World Cup.[9] The Netball World Youth Cup is the pinnacle of netball competition for emerging players who are under 21 years of age and the INF has held an U21 international competition every four years since 1988. The table below contains a list of these championships/cups, where they took place and how many teams competed in the event and the winners.

Year Location Number of teams Winner
1988[16] Canberra, Australia, England[12][13] 9 Australia
1992[16] Suva, Fiji, England[12][13] 11 New Zealand
1996[16] Toronto, Canada, England[12][13] 18 Australia
2000[16] Cardiff, Wales, England[12][13] 11 Australia
2005[16] Fort Lauderdale, USA, England[12][13] 20 New Zealand
2009[16] Rarotonga, Cook Islands, England[12][13] 20 Australia
2013[16] Glasgow, Scotland, England[12][13] 20 New Zealand
2017[16] Gaborone, Botswana, England[12][13] 20 New Zealand

Fast5 Netball World Series

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The Fast5 Netball World Series is an international competition that features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens.[17][18] The competition is contested by the six top national netball teams in the world, according to the INF World Rankings, with teams from Australia, England, Fiji, Jamaica, Malawi New Zealand, Samoa and South Africa having played in the series so far. The Series was first held in England from 2009-2011 and the game played was called Fast Net, this evolved into Fast5 in 2012.[19]

Year Location Number of teams Winner
2009[20] Manchester, England, England[12][13] 6 New Zealand
2010[20] Liverpool, England, England[12][13] 6 New Zealand
2011[20] Liverpool, England, England[12][13] 6 England
2012[20] Auckland, New Zealand, England[12][13] 6 New Zealand
2013[20] Auckland, New Zealand, England[12][13] 6 New Zealand
2014[20] Auckland, New Zealand, England[12][13] 6 New Zealand
2016[20] Melbourne, Australia, England[12][13] 6 New Zealand
2017[20] Melbourne, Australia, England[12][13] 6 England
2018[20] Melbourne, Australia, England[12][13] 6 New Zealand

Goals and objectives

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The INF's fundamental purpose is to promote, improve and grow netball globally, in accordance with the ideals and objects of the Olympic and Commonwealth movements. One of the goals of the INF is to attain International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition for netball and to lobby for the sport's inclusion at future Olympic Games.[9]

National organisations

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The INF is responsible for Netball across the Globe with currently (March 2022) 88 Members, 65 Full Members and 23 Associate Members across 5 Regions; Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. 117 countries interest to netball. 39 Nations only interest and haven't teams and federations.[21]

Members by Regions

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As of 30 March 2022[22]
Number Region Countries (Full/Associate/Other)
1 Africa 12+8+7=27 of 57
2 Asia 12+6+7=25 of 49
3 Oceania 6+3+1=10 of 24
4 Europe 11+2+8=21 of 64
5 Americas 15+3+16=34 of 54
Total World 65+23+39=117 of 250

Members

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This list is incomplete:

Africa Netball Region (12+8)
Full Members Associate Members
  Botswana   Burundi
  Ghana   Cameroon
  Ivory Coast   Central African Republic
  Kenya   Guinea
  Lesotho   Liberia
  Malawi   Nigeria
  Namibia
  Seychelles
  South Africa
  Uganda
  Zambia
  Zimbabwe
Americas Netball Region (15+1)
Full Members Associate Members
  Antigua and Barbuda   Anguilla
  Argentina
  Barbados
  Bermuda
  Canada
  Cayman Islands
  Dominica
  Grenada
  Jamaica
  Saint Lucia
  Sint Maarten
  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  Trinidad and Tobago
  United States
  Saint Kitts and Nevis
Asia Netball Region (10+9)
Full Members Associate Members
  Australia   Bahrain
  Chinese Taipei   Brunei
  Hong Kong   Bangladesh
  India   Japan
  Malaysia   Maldives
  Pakistan   Nepal
  Singapore   South Korea
  Sri Lanka   Timor-Leste
  Thailand   United Arab Emirates
  Philippines
Europe Netball Region (9+3)
Full Members Associate Members
  England   Denmark
  Gibraltar   Iceland
  Isle of Man   Sweden
  Malta
  Northern Ireland
  Ireland
  Scotland
  Switzerland
  Wales
Oceania Netball Region (6+3)
Full Members Associate Members
  Cook Islands   Solomon Islands
  Fiji   Norfolk Island
  New Zealand   Tokelau
  Papua New Guinea
  Tonga
  Samoa

Timeline

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The following (incomplete) list is a timeline of national organisations becoming affiliated with the International Netball Federation:

1960

1978

1992

2010

2019

  • Bangladesh

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "International Netball Federation". Netball Australia. Archived from the original on 13 February 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  2. ^ "International Netball Federation announces rebrand to become World Netball". Sky Sports. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  3. ^ "International Netball Federation announces rebrand to become World Netball". BBC. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  4. ^ "International Netball Federation aims to grow, play, and inspire with World Netball rebrand". englandnetball.co.uk. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  5. ^ a b c International Netball Federation
  6. ^ International Netball Federation 2011a
  7. ^ International Netball Federation 2009c
  8. ^ International Netball Federation & a
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k International Netball Federation 2008
  10. ^ Sri Lanka Netball 2010
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p World Netball Championships 2011 Singapore 2011
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Australian Women's Weekly 1979
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Netball Singapore 2011b
  14. ^ Netball Singapore 2011
  15. ^ Hickey & Navin 2007, p. 35
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h Netball World Youth Cup[circular reference]
  17. ^ Newstalk ZB (2 December 2008). "Innovative World Series planned for next year". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  18. ^ Marshall, Jane (5 February 2009). "Kiwis keen on novel netball variant". The Press. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  19. ^ "Samoa prepares for World netball series". Samoa Observer. 18 December 2008. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2009.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Fast5 Netball World Series". International Netball Federation. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  21. ^ "Inside World Netball".
  22. ^ "Regions & Members".
  23. ^ Limca book of records. Bisleri Beverages Ltd. 1991. pp. 101 (Delhi). ISBN 81-900115-1-0.
  24. ^ Hull 2000
  25. ^ United States of America Netball Association (USANA), Inc. 2010

Bibliography

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