From Sallianne Faulkner
To mark International Women’s Day 2024, I thought it apt to reflect on what our game has done to champion women in this country and worldwide.
It is fair to say that no team sport in Australia can better netball’s legacy of creating female leaders, role models and world-class athletes who have brought international glory and prestige to this nation.
As ever, in the fiercely competitive sports market that we live in, there is no room for complacently and I am immensely proud that today netball is a game enjoyed by people of all genders and backgrounds.
But that does not mean we shouldn’t celebrate and remember the game’s founders as the true pioneers and visionaries that they were. At a time when women had little opportunity, netball was created to give them the sporting outlet they craved and look where we are 100 years later.
Today over 1 million play the game in Australia alone. Internationally it boasts a 20-million strong community across – but not limited to – Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, the African continent, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the UK and the Caribbean.
Of that 20 million, Australian netballers are the ever-present standouts and the Diamonds are this country’s most successful national team. They have a strike rate that betters even the likes of the USA in international basketball or the All Blacks in world rugby.
Across NSW our game is played and loved in every city, region, town, village and hinterland. It’s the same picture in all states and territories. In fact, netball is one of Australia’s true national sports.
To echo Swifts head coach Briony Akle, netball may be a game loved by all today but at its core is the unbreakable tenacity of the female spirit.
On International Women’s Day, I thank every Club and Association in NSW as well as our NSW Swifts and GIANTS for never shying away in the fight for gender equality. #CountHerIn
- Sallianne Faulkner is Chair of Netball NSW
