History of Netball in the UK by Lee Bandoni

Netball is said to have originated in UK in 1895 from Madame Osterberg's College (now Dartford PE College under Greenwich University) in Dartford, Kent. It came over as a form of basketball from USA. The college has produced many netball players who became renouned in UK. Before that, the first netball in the history of the world was played in 1891 in America (Springfield, Massachusetts), where it was known as ‘Women’s Basketball’. A 30-year-old Canadian immigrant to the USA, James Naismith, was ordered to create a high-spirited indoor game for young men at the School for Christian Workers (later called the YWCA).The visiting American academic team who visited England in 1895 offered to teach the game of netball to the locals. They fixed two waste paper baskets on two opposite walls with the help of nails as the basic arrangement of the game. The balls were thrown into the baskets fixed on the two walls, in the oldest games of netball. Although the rules of the oldest games of netball played in UK were very different from that played today, the women of England nevertheless got an engagement for themselves that became popular among them. England enthusiastically accepted the game and the rules were standardized and a governing body was formed to look after these. To get more information like this, you can log on to http://www.netballforum.com.

The following is a brief outline of the chronological list of the milestone events in the history of netball:

• First netball played in America 1891

• First netball played in England 1895

• The official rules for netball framed 1901

• International matches between Scotland, Wales and England played 1949

• The Netball International Federation established 1960

• First Netball World Championship Tournament held (Eastbourne, England)1963

• Youth Tournament held as part of the Australian Bicentenary Celebrations 1988

• Netball got recognition Olympic sport 1995

• Netball became a part of the Commonwealth Games (Malaysia) 1998

Log on to http://www.netballforum.com to know more.

In 1946, Netball Scotland was formed, which was formerly known as the Scottish Netball Association. Before this date, Netball was limited to Glasgow and Lankarshire