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Silver Ferns
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The Silver Ferns are the national netball team of New Zealand. The team take their name from the Silver Tree Fern (Cyathea dealbata), which is an iconic emblem for many New Zealand sports teams. 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 the Australian Diamonds, and have a winning record against most other netball nations.
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Encyclopedia
The Silver Ferns are the national netball team of New Zealand. The team take their name from the Silver Tree Fern (Cyathea dealbata), which is an iconic emblem for many New Zealand sports teams. 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 the Australian Diamonds, and have a winning record against most other netball nations. According to the IFNA World Rankings, the Silver Ferns are currently ranked second in the world, behind Australia.
The Silver Ferns compete annually in 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 Championship since its inauguration in 1963, and in every Commonwealth Games since netball's inclusion in 1998. The Silver Ferns have won the Netball World Championships four times (in 1967, 1979, 1987 and 2003), and are also the reigning Commonwealth Games champions, winning for the first time at the 2006 Games.
The Silver Ferns are administered by Netball New Zealand, the national governing body for netball in the country. Silver Ferns players are usually selected from New Zealand ANZ Championship franchises. The current Silver Ferns line-up was finalised in late August 2008, with the team scheduled to play Australia and England from September–November. The team are presently captained by veteran Canterbury midcourter Julie Seymour. Ruth Aitken has been the head coach of the Silver Ferns since 2001, and is contracted to remain in the position until at least 2012. Waimarama Taumaunu was appointed assistant coach in May 2008.
History
Introduction of netball to New Zealand
Netball was introduced into New Zealand as "women's basketball" in 1906 or 1907 by Rev. J. C. Jamieson, after having seen the game being played in Australia. The game spread through schools across the country, and by 1924 the New Zealand Basketball Association was formed to administer the game on a national basis. Early attempts were made in the 1920s to organise international matches in New Zealand, but these were curtailed by insufficient funds and international differences in playing rules.
Formation and early tests
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, 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. 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. 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. 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.
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. The first Netball World Championships (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. 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. 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.
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. 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 equal third 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. 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 Sportsman of the Year team award that year. 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. Another trans-Tasman Silver Ferns match in 2008 attracted a higher television audience than for a recent Bledisloe Cup–deciding rugby union match.
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. In 2006, New Zealand won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and are the current Commonwealth champions. However, at the 2007 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand were defeated by Australia in the final. The Silver Ferns are currently ranked second in the IFNA netball world rankings, which until 2008 were determined solely by the results of the World Championships.
Competitive record
Netball World Championships
Commonwealth Games
Players
Current Squad
An initial squad of 16 players for the 2008 Silver Ferns was announced by national selectors on 31 July. From this squad, the final Silver Ferns team, comprising 12 players, was chosen and announced on 22 August.
| Player | Position | ANZ Championship team | | Maree Bowden | WA, C, WD | Canterbury Tactix | | Leana de Bruin | GD, GK | Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic | | Katrina Grant | GD, GK | Southern Steel | | Paula Griffin | GA, GS | Central Pulse | | Joline Henry | GD, GK, WD | Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic | | Laura Langman | WD, C, WA | Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic | | Sheryl Scanlan | GD, WD, GK | Southern Steel | | Julie Seymour | C, WA, WD | Canterbury Tactix | | Maria Tutaia | GA, GS | Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic | | Irene van Dyk | GS, GA | Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic | | Casey Williams | GK, GD | Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic | | Daneka Wipiiti | GS, GA | Southern Steel | | Wendy Telfer | WD, C, WA | Southern Steel | | Liana Barrett-Chase | WA, C | Southern Steel | | Erika Burgess | WD, GD, GK | Southern Steel |
Notable past players
See also
External links
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