25-559: The Mobil Superleague , originally known as the Esso Superleague , was the top level national Australian netball league between 1985 and 1996 . The league was Australia's first national netball league. It was organized by the All Australia Netball Association and featured the state league champions from New South Wales , Victoria , South Australia , Queensland and Western Australia plus
50-592: A 61–58 win for Contax. Teams from Sydney and New South Wales won four titles. With a team coached by Anne Sargeant and featuring five Australia internationals – Nicole Cusack , Keeley Devery, Sue Kenny, Catriona Wagg and Lisa Wilson – Sydney Tigers won the 1989 title after defeating the Australian Institute of Sport 57–36 in the grand final. The final was attended by Bob Hawke , the Prime Minister of Australia . Tigers subsequently played
75-401: A Garville team that again featured Avellino, Borlase and Fielke. Wilson was the top scorer and the closely fought match finish 47–47 at full time. However, Garville claimed they had actually won the match 48–46. It was alleged that during the third quarter, the official scorer accidentally gave one of Garville's goals to Contax. Despite protests from Garville, extra time was played and resulted in
100-550: A positive for Netball as it allowed people to participate who might not have participated otherwise. Australia's national team toured England in 1957. This tour resulted in a number of Commonwealth countries meeting together in order to try to standardize the rules of the game. The sport's name "netball" became official in Australia in 1940. In Australia 80% of all netball played is played at netball clubs. The number of Netball Clubs around Australia has been in decline since
125-418: A single round of matches. The top two then qualified for the final. The 1991 and 1992 seasons each featured two divisions with three teams, both playing two rounds of matches. The three teams from Division 1 and the winners from Division 2 qualified for the semi-finals. By 1993 the competition had evolved into an eight team league with the top four qualifying for the semi-finals. This format remained in place for
150-723: A successful state senior netball and basketball coach . Breaking the barrier for women in sport, Mickan also became the first female specialist skills coach in the Australian Football League with the Adelaide Crows . Her younger brother, Mark , is a former AFL footballer. Mickan is also a freelance writer and public keynote speaker. In 2013, Mickan was elected to the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame . This biographical article relating to an Australian basketball figure
175-519: A team coached by Patricia Mickan and featuring Natalie Avellino , Jenny Borlase and Michelle Fielke defeated Sydney Electricity 56–49 in the grand final and finished as champions. In 1994 the two South Australia rivals met in the Mobil Super League grand final, with Contax winning the title after defeating Garville in controversial circumstances. A Contax team captained by Kathryn Harby and featuring Vicki Wilson and Tania Obst, took on
200-748: A team from the Australian Institute of Sport . Between 1990 and 1996, the winners of the league were also awarded the Prime Minister's Cup and this is sometimes used as an alternative name for the competition. Its main sponsors were Esso and Mobil . In 1997 it was replaced by the Commonwealth Bank Trophy . The league initially featured the state league champions from New South Wales , Victoria , South Australia , Queensland and Western Australia plus an Australian Institute of Sport team. However on several occasions composite teams, including Sydney Tigers and Melbourne City were entered. Teams were permitted to "import" up to two players for
225-484: A young Liz Ellis and were coached by Julie Fitzgerald . They later evolved into Sydney Swifts . With a team featuring Sharon Finnan and Joanne Morgan , Sydney Electricity were 1995 champions, defeating Melbourne Pumas 53–37 in the grand final. For the 1996 season Sydney Electricity became Sydney Energy and finished as minor premiers and grand finalists. After Sydney , Melbourne were the league's most successful city, producing three winners. In 1987 Melbourne Blues won
250-450: Is an Australian former basketball player. Mickan played 150 games for the national team between 1979 and 1989, competing at two Olympic Games; 1984 and 1988 . Mickan described her Olympic memories; "I have goose bumps when thinking about it, it's just a very rare and precious experience". Mickan also represented Australia at three World Championships - 1979 , 1983 and 1986 . Following her retirement, Mickan went on to become
275-646: The 1940s. Between 1985 and 2003, only two Western Australian towns decreased the distance that Netball players had to travel in order to compete; these towns were Brookton and Pingelly . Prior to the creation of the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship in 2013, the National Netball League was the major competition in Australia. It included teams from the Australian Capital Territory , New South Wales , Queensland , Victoria , South Australia and Western Australia . After
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#1732798350761300-424: The 1987 and 1989 finals, losing to Melbourne Blues and Sydney Tigers respectively. Other AIS players from this era included Natalie Avellino , Sharon Finnan and Shelley O'Donnell . During the early 1990s, two of the most prominent teams in the league were Adelaide Contax and Adelaide Garville . Between 1986 and 1996, Contax and Garville contested every South Australia state league grand final. The rivalry saw
325-580: The 1990 season as Sydney Panthers and finished in third place. During the 1991 and 1992 seasons they played as Sydney Pulsars and finished as champions after defeating Adelaide Contax in two successive grand finals. The 1993 season featured two Sydney teams, Sydney Pulsars and Sydney Electricity. With a team featuring Nicole Cusack, Keeley Devery, Sharon Finnan and Sue Kenny, Sydney Electricity finished as minor premiers and grand finalists. The 1994 season again saw two Sydney teams, this time Sydney Electricity and Sydney Cenovis Ku-ring-gai. The latter team featured
350-903: The 2016 ANZ Championship season, Netball Australia pulled out of that competition and established Suncorp Super Netball as the country's new top league. The Netball demographic profile is a 18 to 24 year old, unmarried, Australian-born, female who is employed full-time. The average Netball player in New South Wales has played the game for 10.8 years. Most New South Wales based school-aged Netball players play at school and with friends. Girls from non-English speaking backgrounds were more likely to play for fun than their English speaking counterparts, who often played for their school or parents. Non-English speaking girls were less likely to have mothers who played netball, 18.2%, compared to 35.2% for their English speaking counterparts. Most New South Wales based adult players played netball for fun, and for
375-560: The All-Australia Women's Basketball Association formed in 1927. An All-Australian Tournament, later called the Australian National Championships , was first contested between states in 1928, when it was won by Victoria . During the 1930s in Australia, much of the participation in netball at universities was not organised, and players were not required to register. It was believed that this was
400-1179: The Australian Diamonds are ranked first on the INF World Rankings . Australia beat the Silver Ferns to win the World Youth Netball Championships in July 2009 in the Cook Islands . Australia also has a men's national team. It has competed in the 2009 and 2011 International Challenge Men's and Mixed Netball Tournament. 1920 1927 1928 1931 1938 1956 1960 1963 1967 1970 1971 1975 1976 1978 1979 1980 1981 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Patricia Mickan Patricia "Pat" Mickan (born 12 March 1957)
425-546: The Australia–New Zealand Netball Test held at the Sydney Super Dome game in 2004. Netball, at the time called "women's basketball" (distinct from the form of basketball played by women), was introduced to Australia reportedly as early as 1897, although most sources agree that it was established in that country around the start of the 20th century. Interstate competition began in 1924, with
450-422: The duration of the tournaments. This saw Shelley O'Donnell and Vicki Wilson play for Adelaide Contax and Simone McKinnis play for Adelaide Garville . During the history of the league, several formats were used. The 1985 and 1986 tournaments featured eight teams, divided into two groups or zones. Two teams from each group then qualified for semi-finals. The 1989 and 1990 seasons both featured six teams playing
475-418: The final three seasons. The Esso Superleague was formed in 1985 as a partnership between the All Australia Netball Association and the Australian Institute of Sport . The league was Australia 's first national netball league. With a team coached by Wilma Shakespear and featuring Shelley Oates-Wilding and Vicki Wilson , AIS subsequently won the first two tournaments in 1985 and 1986. AIS also played in
500-601: The first to Sydney Electricity and winning the second against Sydney Energy. In both finals, their starting seven included McKinnis, Janine Ilitch , Eloise Southby and Ingrid Dick . Source : Source : Source : Source : Source : Source : Netball in Australia Netball is the most popular women's team participation sport in Australia. In 1985, there were 347,000 players, and in 1995, there were over 360,000 Australian netball players. Throughout most of Australia's netball history,
525-489: The game has largely been a participation sport; it has not managed to become a large spectator sport . In 2005 and 2006, 56,100 Australians attended one to two netball matches, of these, 41,600 were women. 46,200 attended three to five netball matches, with 34,400 of those spectators being women. 86,400 attended six or more netball matches, with 54,800 spectators being female. Overall, 188,800 people attended netball matches, with 130,800 being female. In 2005 and 2006, netball
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#1732798350761550-455: The physical benefits of the sport. The country has hosted several major important international netball events including: The Australian national netball team is regarded as the most successful netball team in international netball. It won the first world championships in 1963 in England, and nine of the twelve Netball World Championships. In addition to being the current world champions,
575-471: The title after defeating Australian Institute of Sport in the final. In 1990 Melbourne City, a composite team coached by Norma Plummer and featuring Roselee Jencke , Simone McKinnis and Shelley O'Donnell defeated Adelaide Contax 52–42 in the grand final. Melbourne City were also the first winners to receive the Prime Minister's Cup. Melbourne Pumas played in the final two grand finals, losing
600-488: The two clubs compete in nine consecutive state league grand finals, plus one controversial Mobil Super League grand final. With teams that included Kathryn Harby , Michelle Fielke and Julie Nykiel , a former Australia women's basketball international , Contax played in three successive grand finals between 1990 and 1992. In 1990 they lost to 52–42 to Melbourne City. Contax then lost out to Sydney Pulsars in both 1991 and 1992. Then in 1993 Garville, in their debut season, with
625-408: Was the 10th most popular spectator sport for women with Australian rules football (1,011,300), horse racing (912,200), rugby league (542,600), motor sports (462,100), rugby union (232,400), football (212,200), harness racing (190,500), cricket (183,200) and tennis (163,500) all being more popular. The country set an attendance record for a Netball match with a record crowd of 14,339 at
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