Rules And Description

The objective of a game of netball is for players to pass the ball to a teammate within the opposition's goal circle and score goals. The team with the most goals at the end of a game is the winner.

Like basketball, netball is played on either a hard or soft court with scoring hoops or "rings" at both ends. The court is slightly larger than a basketball court, being 30.5 m long and 15.25 m wide. The longer sides are called "side lines" and the shorter sides are called "goal lines"or "back lines". Court markings are no more than 50 mm wide. The court is divided into thirds which regulate where individuals of each position are allowed to move. A 90 cm-diameter "centre circle" is located in the centre of the court. At each end of the court there is a 4.9 m-radius semi-circular "shooting circle" or "goal circle" from within which all scoring shots must be taken. The goal posts are 3.05 m high from the top of the ring to the ground and have no backboards. The rings have an internal diameter of 380 mm and are located 150 mm forward from the post and are made of 15 mm diameter steel. Both the height and diameter of the rings are smaller than basketball hoops. It is possible to play netball using a basketball hoop but if there is any contact between the ball and the backboard, the ball is considered out of play. If a goal is scored off the backboard it does not count. Some versions of the rules allow a goal to be scored from a backboard rebound if a player who can catch the ball throws the ball in without touching the ground.

There are seven players on each team, who are given nominated, named positions.Each player must wear a "bib" showing one of the abbreviations below, indicating that player's position. Each player is only allowed in certain areas of the court: a player in a section of court that is not part of their playing area is deemed "offside". The positions are described below.

Netball positions

Position            Name    Abbreviation             Player to mark  Areas permitted

Goal Shooter      GS       Goal Keeper               Attacking third, including the goal circle

Goal Attack        GA      Goal Defence             Attacking and centre thirds, including the goal circle

Wing Attack     WA      Wing Defence           Attacking and centre thirds, but not the goal circle

Centre             C          Centre                        All areas of the court, except the goal circles

Wing Defence  WD      Wing Attack              Centre and defending thirds, but not the goal circle

Goal Defence    GD         Goal Att                    Centre and defending thirds, including the goal circle

Goal Keeper      GK         Goal Shooter           Defending third, including the goal circle

• The ball resembles a basketball but is lighter, smaller, slightly softer in construction, and generally white. A netball will often have patterns engraved or stitched into its design similar to a volleyball. Gilbert is the official ball supplier of the International Federation of Netball Associations.
  

• By the combination of the above, only the Goal Attack and Goal Shooter are able to score goals directly. The job of the Goal Defence and Goal Keeper is to block the Goal Attack and Goal Shooter from shooting. A ball that passes through the hoop, but has been thrown either from outside the circle or by a player not the GA or GS, is deemed a "no goal". Furthermore, a shooter (GA or GS) may not shoot for a goal if a "free pass" has been awarded for an infringement such as stepping, offside, or using the post.If a player misses and the ball does not touch the rim or any part of the post, the player cannot catch it otherwise it is called repossession. This results in a free pass to the other team.

• Netball rules do not permit players to let their landing foot touch the ground again if it is lifted at all while in possession of the ball, so players can take 1.5 steps while holding the ball. Players are entitled to balance on the other foot if the landing foot is lifted. Consequently, the only way to move the ball towards the goal is to throw the ball to a team-mate. The ball cannot be held by a player for more than three seconds at any time, and players may not tap the ball to themselves. The player cannot catch the ball, drop it and pick it up again; this is called a replayed ball. The duration before it is called a drop is determined by the umpire. These rules, combined with the restrictions on where one player of a particular position can move, ensure that everyone on the team is regularly involved in play.

• Contact is only permitted provided it does not impede with an opponent or the general play and players must be at least three feet (90 centimeters) away from a player with the ball while attempting to defend. If impeding contact is made, a penalty is given to the team of the player who was contacted, and the player who contacted must stand "out of play", meaning they cannot participate in play until the player taking the penalty has passed the ball.

• At the beginning of every quarter or after a goal is scored, play starts from the centre of the court with a "centre pass". These passes alternate between the teams, regardless of which team scored the last goal. A centre pass is made by a player in the "centre" position who must have one foot grounded within the centre circle. As the game restarts, only the player in the 'Centre' position from each team are allowed in the centre third of the court. When the umpire blows the whistle to restart play, players in the positions "Goal Attack", "Goal Defence", "Wing Attack" and "Wing Defence" can move into the centre third, where the centre pass must be caught.

• If the ball touches the ground outside the court boundaries, then a member of the team that was not the last to touch the ball before it went out is able to throw the ball back into the court to restart play. A game is played in four quarters, each one lasting fifteen minutes, with intervals of three minutes between the first and second quarters, and between the third and fourth quarters. There is also an interval of five minutes at half time. If a player has an injury, a team-mate or umpire calls time, and the time keeper pauses the timer. When the game starts and the player has swapped places with another player, or is healthy, play is resumed and the timer is restarted.

Rules And Description

The objective of a game of netball is for players to pass the ball to a teammate within the opposition's goal circle and score goals. The team with the most goals at the end of a game is the winner.

Like basketball, netball is played on either a hard or soft court with scoring hoops or "rings" at both ends. The court is slightly larger than a basketball court, being 30.5 m long and 15.25 m wide. The longer sides are called "side lines" and the shorter sides are called "goal lines"or "back lines". Court markings are no more than 50 mm wide. The court is divided into thirds which regulate where individuals of each position are allowed to move. A 90 cm-diameter "centre circle" is located in the centre of the court. At each end of the court there is a 4.9 m-radius semi-circular "shooting circle" or "goal circle" from within which all scoring shots must be taken. The goal posts are 3.05 m high from the top of the ring to the ground and have no backboards. The rings have an internal diameter of 380 mm and are located 150 mm forward from the post and are made of 15 mm diameter steel. Both the height and diameter of the rings are smaller than basketball hoops. It is possible to play netball using a basketball hoop but if there is any contact between the ball and the backboard, the ball is considered out of play. If a goal is scored off the backboard it does not count. Some versions of the rules allow a goal to be scored from a backboard rebound if a player who can catch the ball throws the ball in without touching the ground.

NETBALL-The only women's sport in whole world

Netball is a sport in which two teams of seven players try to score points against each other by placing a ball through a raised goal. The sport is popular in Commonwealth countries and is predominantly played by women. Netball shares many similarities with basketball, having been derived from early versions of women's basketball. It developed as a distinct sport in the 1890s in England, from where it spread throughout the British Empire during the first half of the 20th century.

 Games are played on a rectangular court divided into thirds, with goal posts at each short end. The object of the game is for teams to score as many points as possible by shooting a ball into the opposing team's goal. Players are assigned "positions" that define their role within the team and restrict their movement on court. In general play, players advance the ball towards the opposing goal by passing it to each other, and a player with the ball can take no more than one step before passing it. Goals can only be scored by the assigned shooting players. Netball games are 60 minutes in duration, divided into 15-minute quarters, at the end of which the team with the most goals scored wins; tied games can be declared draws or extended until a winner emerges.

 

The sport is administered globally by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA), and is reportedly played by over 20 million people in more than 70 countries.Local-level participation is widespread in Commonwealth nations, particularly in schools, although international competition and domestic leagues receive substantial recognition only in a few countries. The highest level of international netball includes the Netball World Championships, the netball event at the Commonwealth Games, and the World Netball Series.

History Of  Netball

Netball traces its roots to basketball. Basketball was devised in 1891 by James Naismith for his students in the School for Christian Workers (later called the YMCA). Female teachers got curious and started to formulate a version for girls. The outfits of women at this time prohibited them from effectively executing important basketball moves such as running and dribbling, so the game had to be modified to accommodate these restrictions. Women's basketball was thus born.

In 1895, Clara Baer, a gym teacher from New Orleans, asked Naismith for a copy of the basketball rules. Baer mistook Naismith's pencil markings showing the areas players should best patrol as the areas within which women players could move, and consequently introduced "zoning areas".[This was the start of netball's formalization. These zoning rules, along with many other provisions (such as elimination of the dribbling rule), were all included in the first draft of Rules for Women's Basketball. In 1901, this set of rules was ratified and netball officially became a competitive sport. However, it was several years before regular competitions were held.

Netball was first played in England in 1895 at Madame Osterburg's College and soon spread throughout Australia, the then-British colonies of Jamaica and Antigua, and indeed most British Commonwealth  territories. It did not yet have hard-and-fast rules. So loose were the regulations, in fact, that some games were played by nine players in each team, while some were played with only five players in each. The nets used were also ineffective—they were not open at both ends, so after each goal was scored, the umpire had to retrieve the ball from the top of the post. Netball has been played at the Commonwealth Games since 1998 after becoming a recognized Olympic sport in 1995.

On the 6th June 1907 an exhibition of "Net Ball" was organised between the "Ladies" and "Gentlemen" of the Regent Street Polytechnic as part of a garden party to celebrate the opening of their sports ground in Chiswick (West London). Poly Netball Club can trace an unbroken heritage back to this match and are therefore seen as the world's oldest netball club.