24-609: Sunshine Coast Lightning are a professional Australian netball team based at the University of the Sunshine Coast . The team was formed in 2016 as a joint venture between the university and Melbourne Storm . Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball . Lightning have played in three grand finals, winning premierships in 2017 and 2018 . In May 2016, Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand announced that
48-411: 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
72-545: 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
96-556: The ANZ Championship would be discontinued after the 2016 season . In Australia it was replaced by Suncorp Super Netball. The founding members of Suncorp Super Netball included the five former Australian ANZ Championship teams – Adelaide Thunderbirds , Melbourne Vixens , New South Wales Swifts , Queensland Firebirds and West Coast Fever ; plus three brand new franchises: Collingwood Magpies , Giants Netball and Sunshine Coast Lightning. In August 2016, Sunshine Coast Lightning
120-537: The Australian Capital Territory , Northern Territory and Tasmania , who did not have an ANZ Championship franchise. Victorian Fury were the inaugural champions, defeating the Australian Institute of Sport 56–41 in the first grand final. In 2009 Fury retained the title and in 2010 they completed a three in a row. In 2011 NNSW Waratahs became the first team other than Fury to win
144-479: The Australian Netball League , is an Australian netball competition. Since 2008 it has served as a second level competition, initially below the ANZ Championship and later below Suncorp Super Netball . It is organised by Netball Australia . The teams in the competition are effectively the reserve teams of Suncorp Super Netball teams and/or the representative teams of state netball leagues, such as
168-758: The South Australia state netball league , the Victorian Netball League and the West Australian Netball League . Victorian Fury were the inaugural ANL champions. Fury are also the competition's most successful team, having won eight premierships. The 2020 ANL season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the competition was subsequently re-branded as the Australian Netball Championships. The Australian Netball League
192-554: 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
216-896: 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
240-427: The 2020 Australian Netball League season. However the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In September 2021, Sunshine Coast Lightning were due to enter a reserve team in the inaugural Australian Netball Championships tournament. However, this tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Lightning's ANC team subsequently played in a four team series, playing against Queensland Sapphires ,
264-449: The ANL title. In the grand final they defeated Fury 55–46. Between 2013 and 2016 Fury completed a four in a row of ANL titles. In 2016 Fury won their seventh title and in 2019 they won their eighth. In June 2020, Netball Australia announced that the 2020 ANL season would be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In October 2020, it was announced that the ANL was to be rebranded as
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#1732885005736288-521: The ANL, winning six matches and finishing fifth. Since 2019, USC Thunder have played in the HART Sapphire Series . They were formed as a partnership between Sunshine Coast Lightning and the University of the Sunshine Coast . They play home games at the USC Stadium . In 2019 it was announced that Sunshine Coast Lightning had formed a partnership with Capital Darters . Darters were due to play in
312-538: 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
336-1147: 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 Australian Netball League The Australian Netball Championships , formerly
360-621: The Australian Netball Championships, featuring a new tournament style format with expanded team entry parameters. Suncorp Super Netball teams and Netball Australia member organisations would all be invited to enter teams. In July 2021, Netball Australia announced details of the planned inaugural ANC tournament due to be played in September and hosted by Latrobe City Council and Collingwood Magpies in Traralgon . However, in August 2021 this tournament
384-538: 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
408-552: The Queensland Suns men's netball team and PacificAus Sports, a Pacific Islander select. 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, the game has largely been a participation sport; it has not managed to become
432-461: The inaugural head coach of the new franchise. In September 2016, Caitlin Bassett and Stephanie Wood became the first two Lightning players. Geva Mentor also subsequently signed for Lightning. In February 2017, Mentor was named captain of the new franchise. In 2017 , Lightning finished the season as inaugural champions after defeating Giants Netball 65–48 in the grand final. In 2018 they retained
456-571: The majority of their home matches at USC Stadium . They have also occasionally played home matches at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre . Between 2017 and 2019 Sunshine Coast Lightning formed a partnership with Territory Storm of the Australian Netball League . Storm were effectively Lightning's reserve team . In 2019, with a team featuring Lightning players Cara Koenen , Annika Lee-Jones , Peace Proscovia , and Jacqui Russell , Storm enjoyed one of their best seasons in
480-450: 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,
504-467: The title after defeating West Coast Fever 62–59 in the grand final. In 2019 , Lightning finished the regular season as minor premiers. They also played in their third successive grand final but this time, they were defeated by New South Wales Swifts . After three seasons as head coach at Lightning, Taurua resigned and was replaced by her assistant at the club, Kylee Byrne. Premierships Minor Premierships Lightning play
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#1732885005736528-417: Was first played for during the 2008 season. Netball Australia wanted to organise a second level national league to bridge the gap between states leagues, like the South Australia state netball league , the Victorian Netball League and the West Australian Netball League , and the new ANZ Championship . It was also designed to provide a national competition for the states and territories of Australia , such
552-451: Was officially launched. The team was formed as a joint venture by Melbourne Storm and the University of the Sunshine Coast with the support of Sunshine Coast Council . The colours of the team - navy blue, purple and yellow - are the same as the Storm's. The logo features a bolt of lightning. Before the official launch of Sunshine Coast Lightning, Noeline Taurua had already been announced as
576-408: 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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