Netball - Major Championships

Major Championships

See also: World Netball Championships, Netball at the Commonwealth Games, World Netball Series, and Netball and the Olympic Movement

There are three major international netball competitions.

Netball's important competition is the World Netball Championships, held every four years. It was first held in 1963 at the Chelsea College of Physical Education at Eastbourne, England, with 11 nations competing. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australian and New Zealand teams, which hold ten and four titles, respectively. Trinidad and Tobago is the only other team to win a championship title. 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.

The World Series is a competition among the top six national netball teams, as ranked by the IFNA World Rankings. It is organised by the IFNA in conjunction with the national governing bodies of the six competing nations, UK Sport, and the host city's local council. The All England Netball Association covers air travel, accommodation, food and local travel expenses for all teams, while the respective netball governing bodies cover player allowances. It is held over three days, with each team playing each other once during the first two days in a round-robin format. The four highest-scoring teams advance to the semi-finals; the winners face each other in the Grand Final. The competition features modified fastnet rules and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens. A new format featuring shorter matches with modified rules was designed to make the game more appealing to spectators and television audiences. The World Series was held for the first time in October 2009 and is scheduled to be held annually in England until at least 2011.

Netball gained Olympic recognition in 1995 after 20 years of lobbying. Although it has never been played at the Summer Olympics, politicians and administrators have been campaigning to have it included in the near future. 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. Some funding sources became available with recognition in 1995, including the International Olympic Committee, national Olympic committees, national sport organisations, and state and federal governments.