History of Netball - Development in The Early 20th Century

Development in The Early 20th Century

From the start, netball was developed as a women's sport: existing outside the sphere of male-dominated sports, netball did not encounter the initial social opposition that faced women in other sports in the early 20th century. Women's participation in netball in the early 20th century was widely accepted, as the sport avoided physical contact and did not involve male participation. The sport spread substantially through the school systems of many netball-playing countries.

National netball associations were established, starting from the 1920s, to administer various organised netball leagues and organisations on a national level. The first such organisation was the New Zealand Basketball Association, which was formed in 1924. Equivalent organisations were formed in other countries, including the All England Net Ball Association in 1926, the All Australia Women's Basketball Association in 1927, and the Jamaican Netball Association in 1957. In 1949, wheelchair netball was introduced at the Grand Festival of Paraplegic Sport and was played at every festival until 1954.

Competitive netball in the early 20th century mostly comprised local leagues or nationwide domestic tournaments. International competition was initially hindered by variations of rules in different countries. Australia and New Zealand contested the first international game of netball (still called "women's basketball" in both countries) in 1938, when the New Zealand team toured Australia, playing local and state teams as well as the Australian national team. At the time, Australia played seven-a-side netball, while New Zealand played nine-a-side. For these matches, Australian seven-a-side netball was adopted, along with some netball rules from England. In their one encounter for that tour, Australia's national team defeated New Zealand 40–11. England played Scotland and Wales in the first international matches of "netball" in 1949, with England winning 25–3 in both games.