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New Zealand

Nickname(s)	Silver Ferns
Association	Netball New Zealand
Confederation	Oceania Netball Federation
Head coach	Noeline Taurua
Asst coach	Deb Fuller
Captain	Laura Langman
Vice-captain	Katrina Rore
Most caps	Laura Langman (>146)
INF ranking	2
Team colours
First international
Australia  40 – 11  New Zealand Melbourne, 1938
World Championships
2015 placing	2nd
Best result	1st (1967, 1979, 1987, 2003)
Commonwealth Games
2018 placing	4th
Best result	1st (2006, 2010)

The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern (Cyathea dealbata), which is an emblem for many New Zealand sports teams.^[1] The Silver Ferns were formed in 1938 as a representative New Zealand team to tour Australia. To date, they have been one of the most dominant national netball teams in the world, along with Australia, and have a winning record against most other netball nations. The Silver Ferns are currently ranked second in the INF World Rankings, behind Australia and only slightly ahead of Jamaica and England.

The Silver Ferns compete annually for the Constellation Cup a home-and-away test series with Australia, and also play test matches with other major netball countries, including England and Jamaica, on a regular basis. They have competed at every Netball World Cup since its inauguration in 1963, and in every Commonwealth Games since netball's inclusion in 1998. The Silver Ferns have won the World Cup four times (in 1967, 1979, 1987 and 2003), and have won the netball title at the Commonwealth Games twice (in 2006 and 2010).

The Silver Ferns are administered by Netball New Zealand, the national governing body for netball in the country. Players for the national team are usually selected from ANZ Premiership teams. The coach of the Silver Ferns is former national team player Noeline Taurua, who replaced Janine Southby in the role in August 2018.^[2]

History

Formation and early years

Netball was introduced into New Zealand as "women's basketball" in 1906^[3][4] or 1907,^[5][6] and by 1924 the New Zealand Basketball Association was formed to administer the game on a national basis.^[3] In 1938, the New Zealand Basketball Association sent the first New Zealand representative women's basketball team to tour Australia. The team's emblem and colours, a Silver Fern on a black uniform, had previously been decided in the same year that the association was founded. Margaret Matangi captained the first Silver Ferns team in their debut international test series,^[7] played according to Australian seven-a-side rules (cf. nine-a-side in New Zealand). In their first international test, the Silver Ferns lost to Australia 40–11.^[8] In 1948, ten years after the first tour and three years after the end of World War II, an Australian team toured New Zealand, winning all three test matches against the Silver Ferns, as well as all nine provincial matches; again, the games were played under Australian seven-a-side rules.^[5] A team representing the New Zealand Minor Associations toured Fiji in 1954, at the invitation of the Fijian Basketball Association; the Fijians in turn sent a representative team to New Zealand in 1957.^[5] New Zealand once again organised a team to tour Australia in 1960. The team was captained by June Waititi and also featured renowned defender Lois Muir.^[9]

The international game

By the time of the 1960 tour of Australia, netball-playing nations from around the world had met to draft the first international rules of netball, which featured seven-a-side teams.^[5] The first Netball World Cup (then called the "World Tournament") took place in 1963 in Eastbourne, England. The New Zealand team travelled to the venue by boat, arriving after a voyage of six weeks.^[9] The team were captained by Pam Edwards, with Muir as vice-captain. Australia defeated New Zealand 37–36 in a closely contested final to win the tournament.^[3] The Silver Ferns would not play again for another four years, until the next World Championships in Perth. Captained by Judy Blair, New Zealand defeated Australia 43–40 to win the tournament.^[9]

In 1970, New Zealand played a visiting Fiji team, before touring England and the Caribbean. Also that same year, the Silver Ferns uniform changed from a black tunic to a black skirt and white shirt, and New Zealand became one of the last nations to adopt the name "netball".^[3] New Zealand competed in the third World Championships in Jamaica the following year, again coming second behind Australia. The Silver Ferns toured England in 1974. One year later New Zealand hosted its first World Championships, where the host nation finished third behind Australia and England. Four years later at the 1979 Netball World Championships, the Silver Ferns finished 1st equal, tied with Australia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Regular competition

The 1980s saw the emergence of regular international competition for the Silver Ferns, as well as increasing television coverage of netball matches in New Zealand.^[10] The Silver Ferns competed in two World Championships, in 1983 and 1987. The 1983 Championships were held in Singapore, where New Zealand were defeated in the finals by Australia; four years later, the Silver Ferns defeated Australia to win the 1987 Championships in Glasgow. Starting from 1985, the Silver Ferns have played international tests on an annual basis. In 1989, New Zealand achieved a historic clean-sweep test series win over Australia. It was also the year in which netball was included in the World Games, where New Zealand progressed undefeated to emerge as champions. The Silver Ferns subsequently won the New Zealand Sportsteam of the Year (team award) that year.^[9] In the 1990s, the Silver Ferns contested three World Championships but did not manage to win any of them. The 1999 Championship final between Australia and New Zealand was the highest-ever rating programme for televisor TV2.^[3] Another trans-Tasman Silver Ferns match in 2008 attracted a higher television audience than for a recent Bledisloe Cup–deciding rugby union match.^[11]

Recent history

The Silver Ferns have had several successes in the 2000s. The Silver Ferns once again emerged as world champions after winning the 2003 World Championships in Jamaica. 2005 was a similarly successful year, in which they won all eight international tests, with comfortable series victories over England and Australia, capped off with a tri-series win over Jamaica and Barbados. That year they also posted their highest ever score against Australia, winning 61–36 in Auckland.^[3] In 2006, New Zealand won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, but were defeated by Australia at the final of 2007 World Championships in Auckland the following year. In 2009, the first World Netball Series was contested in England, with the Silver Ferns defeating Jamaica in the grand final to win the inaugural tournament.^[12] Success was repeated the following year at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, with New Zealand defeating Australia in a dramatic 66–64 double-overtime gold medal playoff win.^[13] Described by The New Zealand Herald as "arguably the most incredible netball test ever", the game won the team the Lonsdale Cup of the New Zealand Olympic Committee in 2010 for the most outstanding contribution to an Olympic or Commonwealth sport.^[14] The Ferns claimed their first Quad Series title in September 2017.^[15] Despite this, the team recorded losses to England, Jamaica and Australia in 2017 and 2018, a form slump which culminated in a fourth-place finish at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, marking the first time New Zealand had ever not won a medal in the history of the Games.^[16] They then dropped to third in the INF World Rankings, falling outside the top two positions for the first time since the rankings began in 2008.^[17] The sharp drop-off in form and results led to Janine Southby resigning as head coach on 20 July 2018.^[18] She was replaced one month later by former national team player and current coach of the Sunshine Coast Lightning team in Australia, Noeline Taurua.^[2] Captain Laura Langman reached 146 national team caps in October 2018, overtaking Irene van Dyk as the most capped player in New Zealand netball history.^[19]

Competitive record

Netball World Cup
Year	Championship	Location	Placing
1963	1st World Championships	Eastbourne, England	2nd place
1967	2nd World Championships	Perth, Australia	1st
1971	3rd World Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	2nd place
1975	4th World Championships	Auckland, New Zealand	3rd place
1979	5th World Championships	Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago	Joint 1st
1983	6th World Championships	Singapore	2nd place
1987	7th World Championships	Glasgow, Scotland	1st
1991	8th World Championships	Sydney, Australia	2nd place
1995	9th World Championships	Birmingham, England	3rd place
1999	10th World Championships	Christchurch, New Zealand	2nd place
2003	11th World Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	1st
2007	12th World Championships	Auckland, New Zealand	2nd place
2011	13th World Championships	Singapore	2nd place
2015	14th World Cup	Sydney, Australia	2nd place
2019	15th World Cup	Liverpool, England	TBD

Netball at the Commonwealth Games
Year	Games	Event	Location	Placing
1998	XVI Games	1st Netball	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd place
2002	XVII Games	2nd Netball	Manchester, England	2nd place
2006	XVIII Games	3rd Netball	Melbourne, Australia	1st
2010	XIX Games	4th Netball	Delhi, India	1st
2014	XX Games	5th Netball	Glasgow, Scotland	2nd place
2018	XXI Games	6th Netball	Gold Coast, Australia	4th

Netball at the World Games
Year	Games	Event	Location	Placing
1985	2nd World Games	1st Netball	London, England	1st
1989	3rd World Games	2nd Netball	Karlsruhe, Germany	1st
1993	4th World Games	3rd Netball	The Hague, Netherlands	2nd place

Fast5 World Netball Series (formerly Fastnet)
Year	Tournament	Location	Placing
2009	1st World Series	Manchester, England	1st
2010	2nd World Series	Liverpool, England	1st
2011	3rd World Series	Liverpool, England	2nd
2012	4th World Series	Auckland, New Zealand	1st
2013	5th World Series	Auckland, New Zealand	1st
2014	6th World Series	Auckland, New Zealand	1st
2016	7th World Series	Melbourne, Australia	1st
2017	8th World Series	Melbourne, Australia	4th

Players

Current team

The current roster was selected for the January 2019 Quad Series.^[20]

2019 Silver Ferns roster
Players	Coaches
Name Pos DOB Height Club Nat Caps Ameliaranne Ekenasio GS, GA 11/01/1991 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Central Pulse 22 Maria Folau GA, GS 18/02/1987 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Adelaide Thunderbirds 135 Maia Wilson GS 21/09/1997 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Northern Stars 9 Gina Crampton WA, C 07/12/1991 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) Southern Steel 23 Laura Langman (c) CA, WA, WD 16/04/1986 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) Sunshine Coast Lightning 148 Kimiora Poi C, WA 11/01/1997 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) Mainland Tactix 0 Samantha Sinclair C, WA, WD 05/06/1995 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic 32 Whitney Souness WA, C 12/10/1995 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) Central Pulse 3 Karin Burger GK, GD, WD 12/04/1993 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) Central Pulse 2 Casey Kopua GK, GD 19/06/1985 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic 101 Erena Mikaere GK, GD 09/07/1988 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Northern Mystics 0 Jane Watson GK, GD 07/03/1990 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) Mainland Tactix 26	Head coach Noeline Taurua Assistant coach Deb Fuller Manager: Esther Molloy Notes (c) – Captain (cc) – Co-captain (vc) – Vice-captain – Injury / maternity leave (TRP) – Temporary Replacement Player
Player profiles: Team website	Last updated: 14 December 2018

Player statistics can be found here.

Coaching staff

• 
  Head coach: Noeline Taurua
  


• 
  Assistant coach: Deb Fuller
  


• 
  Manager: Esther Molloy

On-court leadership

• 
  Captain: Laura Langman^[21]
  


• 
  Vice-captain: TBC

Notable past players

• 
  Irene van Dyk: second-most capped Silver Fern, represented New Zealand for 14 years and 145 games


• 
  Belinda Charteris, MNZM
  


• 
  Jenny-May Coffin: current Sports News Presenter for TVNZ.


• 
  Belinda Colling: double international, representing New Zealand in basketball and netball


• 
  Vilimaina Davu: former Fijian national team coach


• 
  Sandra Edge: captain 1994–95


• 
  April Ieremia: former New Zealand television personality


• 
  Bernice Mene, MNZM
  


• 
  Lois Muir, DCNZM
  


• 
  Lesley Rumball (née Nicol): formerly most capped Silver Ferns player


• 
  Julie Seymour (née Dawson), MNZM: captain 2002, 08–09


• 
  Anna Stanley (née Rowberry): captain 2003–2004 & current television commentator


• 
  Waimarama Taumaunu, MBE
  


• 
  Louisa Wall: double international (rugby and netball), Member of Parliament (2008, 2011–present)


• 
  Donna Wilkins (née Loffhagen): double international, representing New Zealand in basketball and netball


• 
  Adine Wilson (née Harper): captain 2005–07


• 
  Casey Kopua (née Williams), ONZM: captain 2009–17

See also

• Constellation Cup


• Taini Jamison Trophy


• Netball in New Zealand

References

External links

• Official team website