| World Netball | |
| Native Name: | |
| Abbreviation: | WN |
| Type: | International sport federation |
| Headquarters: | MediaCityUK, Salford, Greater Manchester, England |
| Region Served: | Worldwide |
| Membership: | 65 full members 23 associate members |
| Membership Year: | 2022 |
| Leader Title: | President |
| Leader Name: | Liz Nicholl |
| Leader Title2: | Vice-President |
| Leader Name2: | Shirley Hooper |
| Leader Title3: | CEO |
| Leader Name3: | Clare Briegal |
World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation and the International Federation of Netball Associations, is the worldwide governing body for Netball. The INF was created in 1960[1] and is responsible for world rankings, maintaining the rules for netball and organising the Netball World Cup and Netball at the Commonwealth Games
In June 2021 INF announced an official rebrand and became known as World Netball.[2] [3] [4]
The organisation is based in Manchester, England. The INF has over 70 national members which are grouped into five regional areas: Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and Oceania. The INF is governed by a congress that meets every two years, a board of directors that meets three times a year, a chief executive officer and a Secretariat. It is also responsible for providing world rankings for national representative teams. The INF organises several major international competitions including the Netball World Cup and Netball World Youth Cup. It is also a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code.
In 1957, a pair of national netball organisations discussed the need to create an international governing body for the sport to help address issues like standardising the rules. This conversation was started between England and Australia, while Australia was touring England. In 1960, netball representatives from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies finally gathered to create the needed organisation, the International Federation of Women's Basketball and Netball. The meeting took place in Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon), with rules for the newly creating organisation being created. A decision was made at this first meeting create a world championship competition for the sport to be held every four years, with the first event to be held in 1963 in Eastbourne, England.
The organisation has since undergone lies several changes. After all countries adopted the name "netball" for the sport, the organisation was renamed the "International Federation of Netball Associations" (IFNA). This name was used until November 2012, when the organisation changed to its current name, the "International Netball Federation" (INF), to bring it in line with other sports governing bodies.
See main article: INF Netball World Cup. The INF is responsible for organising the Netball World Cup (formerly the World Netball Championships), the premier event in international netball, held every four years. The table below contains a list of these championships/cups, where they took place and how many teams competed in the event and the winners.
| Year | Location | Number of teams | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 Details | Eastbourne, England | 11 | Australia | |
| 1967 Details | Perth, Australia | 8 | New Zealand | |
| 1971 Details | Kingston, Jamaica | 9 | Australia | |
| 1975 Details | Auckland, New Zealand | 11 | Australia | |
| 1979 Details | Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago | 19 | New Zealand, Australia, Trinidad & Tobago | |
| 1983 Details | Singapore City, Singapore | 14 | Australia | |
| 1987 Details | Glasgow, Scotland | 17 | New Zealand | |
| 1991 Details | Sydney, Australia | 20 | Australia | |
| 1995 Details | Birmingham, England | 27 | Australia | |
| 1999 Details | Christchurch, New Zealand | 26 | Australia | |
| 2003 Details | Kingston, Jamaica | 24 | New Zealand | |
| 2007 Details | Auckland, New Zealand | 16 | Australia | |
| 2011 Details | Singapore, Singapore | 16 | Australia | |
| 2015 Details | Sydney, Australia | 16 | Australia | |
| 2019 Details | Liverpool, England | 16 | New Zealand | |
| 2023 Details | Cape Town, South Africa | 16 | Australia |
The INF is responsible for organising the Netball World Youth Cup (formerly the World Youth Netball Championships), the premier event in international netball, held every four years in a year other than that of the Netball World Cup. The Netball World Youth Cup is the pinnacle of netball competition for emerging players who are under 21 years of age and the INF has held an U21 international competition every four years since 1988. The table below contains a list of these championships/cups, where they took place and how many teams competed in the event and the winners.
| Year | Location | Number of teams | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988[5] | Canberra, Australia, England | 9 | Australia |
| 1992 | Suva, Fiji, England | 11 | New Zealand |
| 1996 | Toronto, Canada, England | 18 | Australia |
| 2000 | Cardiff, Wales, England | 11 | Australia |
| 2005 | Fort Lauderdale, USA, England | 20 | New Zealand |
| 2009 | Rarotonga, Cook Islands, England | 20 | Australia |
| 2013 | Glasgow, Scotland, England | 20 | New Zealand |
| 2017 | Gaborone, Botswana, England | 20 | New Zealand |
See main article: Fast5 Netball World Series. The Fast5 Netball World Series is an international competition that features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens.[6] [7] The competition is contested by the six top national netball teams in the world, according to the INF World Rankings, with teams from Australia, England, Fiji, Jamaica, Malawi New Zealand, Samoa and South Africa having played in the series so far.The Series was first held in England from 2009-2011 and the game played was called Fast Net, this evolved into Fast5 in 2012.[8]
| Year | Location | Number of teams | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009[9] | Manchester, England, England | 6 | New Zealand | |
| 2010 | Liverpool, England, England | 6 | New Zealand | |
| 2011 | Liverpool, England, England | 6 | England | |
| 2012 | Auckland, New Zealand, England | 6 | New Zealand | |
| 2013 | Auckland, New Zealand, England | 6 | New Zealand | |
| 2014 | Auckland, New Zealand, England | 6 | New Zealand | |
| 2016 | Melbourne, Australia, England | 6 | New Zealand | |
| 2017 | Melbourne, Australia, England | 6 | England | |
| 2018 | Melbourne, Australia, England | 6 | New Zealand |
See also: Netball and the Olympic Movement. The INF's fundamental purpose is to promote, improve and grow netball globally, in accordance with the ideals and objects of the Olympic and Commonwealth movements.One of the goals of the INF is to attain International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition for netball and to lobby for the sport's inclusion at future Olympic Games.
The INF is responsible for Netball across the Globe with currently (March 2022) 88 Members, 65 Full Members and 23 Associate Members across 5 Regions; Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. 117 countries interest to netball. 39 Nations only interest and haven't teams and federations.[10]
| Number | Region | Countries (Full/Associate/Other) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12+8+7=27 of 57 | ||
| 2 | 12+6+7=25 of 49 | ||
| 3 | 6+3+1=10 of 24 | ||
| 4 | 11+2+8=21 of 64 | ||
| 5 | 15+3+16=34 of 54 | ||
| Total | World | 65+23+39=117 of 250 |
This list is incomplete:
The following (incomplete) list is a timeline of national organisations becoming affiliated with the International Netball Federation:
1960
1978
1992
2010
2019