The Australia national netball team, also known as the Australian Diamonds, represent

Netball Australia Netball Australia is the main governing body for netball in Australia. It is affiliated to World Netball. It is responsible for organising and administering the Australia national netball team, Suncorp Super Netball, Australian National Netba ...

in international

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

tournaments such as the

Netball World Cup The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and the New ...

, the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

, the Constellation Cup, the

Netball Quad Series The Netball Quad Series, also referred to as the SANZEA Netball Quad Series, is an international netball series. The series traditionally features Australia national netball team, Australia, England national netball team, England, New Zealand nati ...

and the

Fast5 Netball World Series The Fast5 Netball World Series is an annual international Fast5 netball competition. The competition, which began in October 2009, features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens. The competition is co ...

. They have also represented Australia at the

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

. Australia made their

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut in

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

. As of 2023, Australia have been World champions on 12 occasions and Commonwealth champions on 4 occasions. They are regularly ranked number one in the

World Netball Rankings The World Netball Rankings are published by the World Netball to make it possible to compare the relative strengths of internationally active national netball teams. Initially, rankings were based on the results from the World Netball Championsh ...

History

Early years

On 20 August 1938, at

Royal Park, Melbourne Royal Park is the largest of Melbourne's inner city parks (). It is located north of the Melbourne CBD, in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, in the suburb of Parkville, Victoria, Parkville. Many sporting facilities are provided incl ...

, Australia defeated

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

40–11. This was the first netball Test between Australia and New Zealand. It was also the world's first international netball match. The Australia team included

Lorna McConchie Lorna Jean McConchie (22 July 1914 – 9 December 2001) was a former Australia netball international and national team head coach. In 1938 McConchie played for Australia in their first international match against New Zealand. McConchie was lat ...

and the umpires included Anne Clark. Australia were due to tour

in 1940. However the tour was cancelled due to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1948, an Australia team eventually toured New Zealand for the first time, winning all three test matches. The Australia team included

Myrtle Craddock Myrtle Baylis (1 May 1920 – 23 September 2014), also known as Myrtle Craddock, was an Australia women's Test cricketer and an Australia netball international. In 1948 she made her debut for both national teams, just five months apart. Betwe ...

. In 1956, with a team coached by McConchie and captained by Pat McCarthy, Australia toured

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. During the tour Australia played their first tests against

and

Rivalry with New Zealand

One of Australia's main rivals in international netball is

. Between

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, the two teams dominated the

World Netball Championships The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and the New ...

and

tournaments. Since 2010 the two teams have also competed for the Constellation Cup. Notable and memorable clashes have included the finals of the

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and

2011 World Netball Championships The 2011 World Netball Championships () was the 13th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Singapore from 3–10 July. All 48 matches were played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. ...

, the finals of the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

and the final match of the

2013 Constellation Cup The 2013 Constellation Cup was the 4th Constellation Cup series played between Australia and New Zealand. The series, also known as the New World Netball Series, featured five netball test matches, played in September and October 2013. The Aus ...

Tournament history

Netball World Cup

Australia has competed at every

and/or

since the 1963 inaugural tournament. Between

and

, Australia have won 11 championships. With a team coached by

, captained by Joyce Brown and also featuring

Margaret Caldow Margaret Elaine Caldow (born 28 November 1941), also known as Marg Caldow, is a former Australia netball international and a former England head coach. She represented Australia at the 1963, 1975 and the 1979 World Netball Championships, winni ...

and Wilma Ritchie, Australia were the inaugural champions after winning all ten matches during the 1963 tournament. In 2005, the 1963 team were inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

. In the

final, Australia defeated reigning champions,

, 53–52 at a packed

Sydney Entertainment Centre Sydney Entertainment Centre, later known as Qantas Credit Union Arena, was a multi-purpose arena located in Haymarket, Sydney, Australia. It opened in May 1983, to replace Sydney Stadium, which had been demolished in 1970 to make way for the ...

. New Zealand held a one point lead at each change, Australia then went ahead with minutes to go. With seconds to spare,

Roselee Jencke Roselee Jencke is a former Australia netball international and netball coach. As a player, Jencke was a member of the Australia teams that won the gold medal at the 1991 World Netball Championships and the silver medals at the 1985 World Game ...

made a match-saving intercept to ensure a one-goal victory for Australia. The match, which was broadcast live on

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...

, was hailed as one of the greatest netball games ever.

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

, the

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

and a lifelong sports enthusiast, called it the best sporting contest he had seen. It was also the first of a hat-trick of World titles for Australia. In

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, the team and their head coach, Joyce Brown, were all awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

. In 2012 they were inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. In the

final, Australia were trailing New Zealand 28–34 after three quarters. However, they snatched the title 42–41 with a last minute goal from

Sharelle McMahon Sharelle Jane McMahon (born 12 August 1977) is an Australian former netball player who captained the Australia national netball team. She played in the goal attack and goal shooter positions. Domestic career Born in Bamawm, Victoria, McMahon ...

. The win gave Australia its third straight world title. In 2014, the 1999 team became the third Australia national netball team to be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Sources:

World Games

Between

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

and

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, Australia competed at the

, winning one gold and two silver medals.

Commonwealth Games

Australia has competed at every netball tournament at the Commonwealth Games. In

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

they defeated

in a one-off match when netball was a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration sport ...

. Between

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

they have played in every tournament final, winning four gold and three silver medals. In 1998,

Jill McIntosh Jill McIntosh is a former Australia netball international and national team head coach. As a player, McIntosh was a member of the Australia team that won the gold medal at the 1983 World Netball Championships. She later coached Australia at th ...

guided Australia to the inaugural Commonwealth title after they defeated New Zealand 42–39 in the final. In

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, Australia defended their title, again after defeating New Zealand in the final, this time courtesy of a

goal in double extra time. During the

2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event, in New Delhi, India. It began at 7:00 PM ( IST) on 3 October 2010 ending at 10:00 PM (IST) displaying India's varied c ...

, McMahon, now team captain, carried the

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

for the overall

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

team. In

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Australia won their third Commonwealth title after defeating New Zealand 58–40 in the final.

Caitlin Bassett Caitlin Bassett (born 23 May 1988) is a former Australian netballer, who played for Giants Netball and the Australia national netball team. Between 2017 and 2021 Bassett captained Australia in international netball tests. Career Caitlin playe ...

scored 49 from 53 at 92% accuracy to clinch the title.

Constellation Cup

Since 2010 Australia and

have competed for the Constellation Cup.

Netball Quad Series/Netball Nations Cup

Since

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, Australia have competed in the

, playing against

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Fast5 Netball World Series

When competing at the

, the team is referred to as the ''Fast5 Flyers''. In

, Australia won the series for the first time.

Home venues

The Diamonds have played their home matches at various home venues around

. The courts they most recently used include:

Notable players

Current squad

The current squad was selected for the

2024 Constellation Cup The 2024 Constellation Cup was the 14th Constellation Cup series between Australia national netball team, Australia and New Zealand national netball team, New Zealand. It featured four Test match (netball), netball test matches, played in October ...

Notable past players

;Captains ;Award winners

Head coaches

Sources:

Sponsorship

Honours

* World Netball Championships/Netball World Cup **''Winners'':

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

: 12 **''Runners up'':

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: 4 *

**''Winners'':

: 4 **''Runners Up'':

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

: 3 * Constellation Cup **''Winners'':

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

: 11 **''Runners Up'':

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

: 3 * Netball Quad Series/Netball Nations Cup **''Winners'':

, 2017 (I), 2018 (I), 2018 (II),

: 9 **''Runners Up'': 2017 (II): 1 *

**''Winners'':

: 1 **''Runners up'':

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

: 2 *

**''Winners'':

: 3 **''Runners up'':

: 3

References

External links

Official team website

Netball Australia website
{{Navboxes , title=Tournaments , list1= {{INF Netball World Cup nav {{Commonwealth Games Netball {{Netball Quad Series {{Constellation Cup {{Fast5 Netball World Series {{Netball at the World Games

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

National netball teams of Asia National netball teams of Oceania