New Zealand national netball team

The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern (''Cyathea dealbata''), which is an emblem for many New Zealand sports teams. The Silver Ferns were formed in 1938 as a representative New Zealand team to tour Australia. To date, they have been one of the most dominant national netball teams in the world, along with Australia, and have a winning record against most other netball nations. The Silver Ferns are current world champions and ranked second in the INF World Rankings, behind Australia.

The Silver Ferns compete annually for the Constellation Cup; a home-and-away test series with Australia, and also play test matches with other major netball countries, including England and Jamaica, on a regular basis. They have competed at every Netball World Cup since its inauguration in 1963, and in every Commonwealth Games since netball's inclusion in 1998. The Silver Ferns have won the World Cup five times (in 1967, 1979, 1987, 2003 and 2019), and have won the netball gold medal at the Commonwealth Games twice (in 2006 and 2010).

The Silver Ferns are administered by Netball New Zealand, the national governing body for netball in the country. Players for the national team are usually selected from ANZ Premiership teams. The coach of the Silver Ferns is former national team player Noeline Taurua, who replaced Janine Southby in the role in August 2018.

History

Formation and early years

Netball was introduced into New Zealand as "women's basketball" in 1906 or 1907, and by 1924 the New Zealand Basketball Association was formed to administer the game on a national basis. In 1938, the New Zealand Basketball Association sent the first New Zealand representative women's basketball team to tour Australia. The team's emblem and colours, a Silver Fern on a black uniform, had previously been decided in the same year that the association was founded. Margaret Matangi captained the first Silver Ferns team in their debut international test series, played according to Australian seven-a-side rules (cf. nine-a-side in New Zealand). In their first international test, the Silver Ferns lost to Australia 40–11. In 1948, ten years after the first tour and three years after the end of World War II, an Australian team toured New Zealand, winning all three test matches against the Silver Ferns, as well as all nine provincial matches; again, the games were played under Australian seven-a-side rules. A team representing the New Zealand Minor Associations toured Fiji in 1954, at the invitation of the Fijian Basketball Association; the Fijians in turn sent a representative team to New Zealand in 1957. New Zealand once again organised a team to tour Australia in 1960. The team was captained by June Waititi and also featured defender, and later long-term coach, Lois Muir.

The international game

By the time of the 1960 tour of Australia, netball-playing nations from around the world had met to draft the first international rules of netball, which featured seven-a-side teams. The first Netball World Cup (then called the "World Tournament") took place in 1963 in Eastbourne, England. The New Zealand team travelled to the venue by boat, arriving after a voyage of six weeks. The team were captained by Pam Edwards, with Muir as vice-captain. Australia defeated New Zealand 37–36 in a closely contested final to win the tournament. The Silver Ferns would not play again for another four years, until the next World Championships in Perth. Captained by Judy Blair, New Zealand defeated Australia 43–40 to win the tournament.

In 1970, New Zealand played a visiting Fiji team, before touring England and the Caribbean. Also that same year, the Silver Ferns uniform changed from a black tunic to a black skirt and white shirt, and New Zealand became one of the last nations to adopt the name "netball". New Zealand competed in the third World Championships in Jamaica the following year, again coming second behind Australia. The Silver Ferns toured England in 1974. One year later New Zealand hosted its first World Championships, where the host nation finished third behind Australia and England. Four years later at the 1979 Netball World Championships, the Silver Ferns finished 1st equal, tied with Australia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Regular competition

The 1980s saw the emergence of regular international competition for the Silver Ferns, as well as increasing television coverage of netball matches in New Zealand. The Silver Ferns competed in two World Championships, in 1983 and 1987. The 1983 Championships were held in Singapore, where New Zealand were defeated in the finals by Australia; four years later, the Silver Ferns defeated Australia to win the 1987 Championships in Glasgow. Starting from 1985, the Silver Ferns have played international tests on an annual basis. In 1989, New Zealand achieved a historic clean-sweep test series win over Australia. It was also the year in which netball was included in the World Games, where New Zealand progressed undefeated to emerge as champions. The Silver Ferns subsequently won the New Zealand Sportsteam of the Year (team award) that year. In the 1990s, the Silver Ferns contested three World Championships but did not manage to win any of them. The 1999 Championship final between Australia and New Zealand was the highest-ever rating programme for televisor TV2. Another trans-Tasman Silver Ferns match in 2008 attracted a higher television audience than for a recent Bledisloe Cup–deciding rugby union match.

Recent history

The Silver Ferns have had several successes in the 2000s. The Silver Ferns once again emerged as world champions after winning the 2003 World Championships in Jamaica. 2005 was a similarly successful year, in which they won all eight international tests, with comfortable series victories over England and Australia, capped off with a tri-series win over Jamaica and Barbados. That year they also posted their highest ever score against Australia, winning 61–36 in Auckland. In 2006, New Zealand won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, but were defeated by Australia at the final of 2007 World Championships in Auckland the following year. In 2009, the first World Netball Series was contested in England, with the Silver Ferns defeating Jamaica in the grand final to win the inaugural tournament. Success was repeated the following year at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, with New Zealand defeating Australia in a dramatic 66–64 double-overtime gold medal playoff win. Described by ''The New Zealand Herald'' as "arguably the most incredible netball test ever", the game won the team the Lonsdale Cup of the New Zealand Olympic Committee in 2010 for the most outstanding contribution to an Olympic or Commonwealth sport.

The Ferns claimed their first Quad Series title in September 2017. Despite this, the team recorded losses to England, Jamaica and Australia in 2017 and 2018, a form slump which culminated in a fourth-place finish at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, marking the first time New Zealand had ever not won a medal in the history of the Games. They then dropped to third in the INF World Rankings, falling outside the top two positions for the first time since the rankings began in 2008. The sharp drop-off in form and results led to Janine Southby resigning as head coach on 20 July 2018. She was replaced one month later by former national team player and current coach of the Sunshine Coast Lightning team in Australia, Noeline Taurua. Captain Laura Langman, who became captain in 2018, reached 146 national team caps in October that year, overtaking Irene van Dyk as the most capped player in New Zealand netball history. The following year the Silver Ferns won the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, reversing their recent slump in form.

Competitive record

Management

Sheryl Wells (later Sheryl, Lady Wells) was the manager of the national team from 1992 to 2004. Wells was succeeded as manager by Jackie Barron, who had previously managed the Under-21 netball team and been to two World Youth Cups (in 1996 and 2000). Barron retired from the post in 2009 and was succeeded by Esther Molloy, who is the team's current manager. Up until 2008, the team manager was a voluntary position. In 2008, it became a full-time role.

Coaches

There have been 11 coaches of the national team since 1938. The following is a complete list:

Players

Current team

Notable past players

* Irene van Dyk: The most internationally capped netball player in history, third-most capped Silver Fern, Represented New Zealand for 14 years in which she accumulated in 145 games. 2003 Netball World Cup Champion & 2006, 2010 Commonwealth Gold medalist.
* Belinda Charteris, MNZM
* Jenny-May Clarkson (née Coffin): current presenter of TVNZ's Breakfast.
* Belinda Colling: double international, representing New Zealand in basketball and netball
* Vilimaina Davu: former Fijian national team coach
* Sandra Edge: captain 1994–95
* Maria Folau (née Tuta’ia): currently the second most capped Silver Ferns player - 150 caps
* April Ieremia: former New Zealand television personality
* Casey Kopua (née Williams), ONZM: captain 2009–17
* Bernice Mene, MNZM
* Lois Muir, DCNZM
* Lesley Rumball (née Nicol): formerly most capped Silver Ferns player
* Julie Seymour (née Dawson), MNZM: captain 2002, 08–09
* Anna Stanley (née Rowberry): captain 2003–2004 & current television commentator
* Waimarama Taumaunu, MBE
* Louisa Wall: double international (rugby and netball), Member of Parliament (2008, 2011–present)
* Donna Wilkins (née Loffhagen): double international, representing New Zealand in basketball and netball
* Adine Wilson (née Harper): captain 2005–07
* Laura Langman: most capped Silver Ferns player - 163 caps

See also

* Constellation Cup
* Taini Jamison Trophy
* Netball in New Zealand

References

External links

Official team website

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{{New Zealand national teams

National netball teams of Oceania