Netball in Africa

Netball is a popular women's sport in parts of Africa. Several African nations are ranked amongst the top thirty in the world. As of August 2016, South Africa was ranked number Five, Malawi was ranked number Six, Uganda was ranked Eleven, Zambia was ranked Sixteenth, Botswana was ranked twentieth, Zimbabwe was ranked Twenty-first and Swaziland was ranked Thirtieth in the world.

Netball is one of the most popular women's participation sports in South Africa. While participation rates are high, there is no sense of collective identity by players as netballers and being part of a national netball community. In 2002, 40% of African girls rated netball as their favourite sport and 19% of coloured girls liked netball best. Many African girls claimed netball as their favourite sport even if they had never played it.

The history of South Africa's netball involvement mirrors that of other sports played in the country such as rugby union. South Africa was involved with the international netball community early in the sport's history, taking part in the 1960 meeting of Commonwealth countries in Sri Lanka to standardise the rules for the game. South Africa's international involvement was suspended because of apartheid era policies. In 1969, South Africa was expelled from competing internationally in netball. Other countries turned down tours to South Africa. Some countries, including England and New Zealand, continued to occasionally compete against South Africa, which led to their national players also being banned from international competitions. When they rejoined the community in the 1990s, internal racial tensions continued to plague the sport on the local level.

In 1994, the national team had their first international tour after a 20-year absence from international competition. The success of the South African Springboks in the 1995 Rugby World Cup had a positive impact on support for other South African national teams at international competitions, including the nation's appearance at the 1995 Netball World Championships. South Africa provided a major upset when they beat New Zealand in pool play during the tournament, with South Africa finishing second behind Australia. In 1995, the South African Police Service (SAPS) held its first National Netball Championships in Pretoria. The development of SAPS netball was not taken seriously until 1999 when they affiliated to Netball South Africa as an associated member. The Southern African Development Community has a sport competition with over 600 correctional officers from member countries participating. The 2000 national championships were held in Cape Town. In 2000, New Zealand's national side toured South Africa for the first time. The two countries played three test matches and New Zealand won them all. In 2001, a Tri-Nations Series was launched between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, which was also won by New Zealand.

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