Ian JohnThe forthcoming Netball World Cup in South Africa promises to be an exciting event, but one most likely dominated by the big two; Australia and New Zealand.
With the likes of England, Jamaica and an emerging Uganda side expected to be the main rivals to the two Antipodean teams, it should be a cracking tournament.
And in this article, we are going to bring you everything we can about the big event, including the latest betting on the tournament from bet365 Sport!
But first, let’s take a look at the history of the tournament in a bit more detail.
Netball World Cup – Historic Timeline
- 1960 – Representatives from England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies and Australia met to thrash out some standard rules for netball to be played across the world. This meeting led to the International Federation of Netball Associations, the formalisation of rules across the world and an agreement to hold a Netball World Cup every four years, starting in 1963.
- 1963 – The first Netball World Cup (then called the World Netball Championships) was held in England featuring 11 teams.
- 1979 – A record 19 teams compete in the Netball World Cup in 1979 in Port of Spain.
- 1991 – After the final Round-robin tournament in Glasgow in 1987, the tournament switched to a knockout for the 1991 Netball World Cup in Sydney, Australia. This was the first tournament that saw semi-finals and finals played to decide the winner. Previously to this teams could tie for the title.
- 1995 – 27 teams compete in the biggest ever Netball World Cup in Birmingham, England.
- 2003 – Kingston in Jamaica becomes the first city to host the tournament twice.
- 2007 – Auckland, New Zealand steps in to host the tournament after it was moved from Fiji due to a military coup in 2006. It is the second time the City has hosted the tournament. The format of the tournament changes again with the first round now seeing a reduced number of 16 teams qualifying and then competing across four groups of four in the opening phase of the Netball World Cup.
- 2011 – Singapore hosts the tournament for a second time.
- 2015 – The World Netball Championships is renamed to the Netball World Cup. Sydney hosts the tournament for a second time.
- 2023 – The 2023 tournament will be the first time that the Netball World Cup has been staged in Africa.
Netball World Cup – Winners & Top Teams
Australia and New Zealand have utterly dominated this tournament since it first began.
The table below shows which countries have finished in the top four places of each tournament since it began in 1963.
RR stands for Round-Robin which means no Final or 3rd place match was played, and positions are decided by round robin matches between the four teams.
| Year | Host | Winners | Score | Runner Up | 3rd Place | Score | 4th Place | |
| 1963 | England | Australia | RR | New Zealand | England | RR | Trinidad & Tobago | |
| 1967 | Australia | New Zealand | RR | Australia | South Africa | RR | England | |
| 1971 | Jamaica | Australia | RR | New Zealand | England | RR | Jamaica & T&Tobago | |
| 1975 | N.Zealand | Australia | RR | England | New Zealand | RR | Trinidad & Tobago | |
| 1979 | T&Tobago | Australia, New Zealand & Trinidad & Tobago | RR | N/A | N/A | RR | England | |
| 1983 | Singapore | Australia | RR | New Zealand | Trinidad& Tobago | RR | England | |
| 1987 | Scotland | New Zealand | RR | Australia & T & Tobago | N/A | RR | England | |
| 1991 | Australia | Australia | 53-52 | New Zealand | Jamaica | 63-54 | England | |
| 1995 | England | Australia | 68-48 | South Africa | New Zealand | 60-31 | England | |
| 1999 | N.Zealand | Australia | 42-41 | New Zealand | England | 57-43 | Jamaica | |
| 2003 | Jamaica | New Zealand | 49-47 | Australia | Jamaica | 46-40 | England | |
| 2007 | N.Zealand | Australia | 42-38 | New Zealand | Jamaica | 53-52 | England | |
| 2011 | Singapore | Australia | 58-57 | New Zealand | England | 70-49 | Jamaica | |
| 2015 | Australia | Australia | 58-55 | New Zealand | England | 66-44 | Jamaica | |
| 2019 | England | New Zealand | 52-51 | Australia | England | 58-42 | South Africa | |
| 2023 | S.Africa | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
Netball World Cup Winners & Finals Appearances
- Australia – 11 Wins (1963, 1971, 1975, 1979*, 1983, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2007, 2011, 2015)
- New Zealand – 5 Wins (1967, 1979*, 1987, 2003, 2019)
- Trinidad & Tobago – 1 Win (1979*)
*indicates the winner’s trophy was shared between the three teams in that year.
Other than the teams outlined above, only two other teams have reached a Netball World Cup Final, England in 1975 and South Africa in 1995, although neither won the game, both losing to Australia.
Only England, Australia, Jamaica and New Zealand have appeared at every Netball World Cup Finals since the tournament began. Scotland and Trinidad and Tobago have missed just one tournament each since it began. Wales have missed just two.
Let’s now take a closer look at the 2023 Netball World Cup in a bit more detail.
2023 Netball World Cup
- Venue – The Cape Town International Convention Centre
- City – Cape Town
- Country – South Africa
- Dates – From 28th July to 6th August 2023
- No of Teams Qualified – 16
A six-person Umpire Appointments Panel has selected the following umpires for the tournament:
- Australia – Bronwen Adams, Joshua Bowring, Jemma Cook, Tara Warner, Kate Wright
- New Zealand – Angela Armstrong-Lush, Gareth Fowler, Ken Metekingi, Kristie Sampson
- England – Gary Burgess, Alison Harrison, Kate Stephenson, Kate Mann, Louis Travers
- Jamaica – Tracy-Ann Griffiths, Terrence Peart
- South Africa – Anso Kemp, Elizna Van den Berg
The Group Stage Draw – Preliminary Stage One
The 16 teams qualified for the tournament have been drawn into the following groups for the opening phase of the tournament.
Group A
- Australia
- Tonga
- Zimbabwe
- Fiji
Group B
- England
- Malawi
- Scotland
- Barbados
Group C
- Jamaica
- South Africa
- Wales
- Sri Lanka
Group D
- New Zealand
- Uganda
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Singapore
Preliminary Stage 2
Following the Preliminary Stage One, all 16 teams will be placed into one of three groups for Preliminary Stage Two.
The Top Three Teams from Groups A and B will be placed in Preliminary Stage 2 Pool E.
The Top Three Teams from Groups C and D will be placed in Preliminary Stage 2 Pool F.
The bottom four teams from all groups will be placed in Preliminary Stage 2 Pool G.
Placing & Playoff Games – Stage 3
All 16 teams competing will playoff in the Placing and Playoff Games.
The top two teams from Pool E will face off in the Semi Finals. The winners of those game contest the final, with the losers contesting the 3rd/4th place game.
Depending on their positions in Stage 2, the remaining teams will play off in the 5th/6th, 7th/8th, 9th/10th, 11th/12th, 13th/14th and 15th/16th placing games.
Top Players
Some of the top players in the world competing in the tournament this year include:
- Jo Weston (Australia)
- Liz Watson (Australia)
- Courtney Bruce (Australia)
- Shamera Sterling (Jamaica)
- Gretel Bueta (Australia)
- Jhaniele Fowler (Jamaica)
- Funmi Fadoju (England)
- Kelly Jury (New Zealand)
- Eleanor Cardwell (England)
- Karin Burger (New Zealand)
- Grace Nweke (New Zealand)
- Paige Hadley (Australia)
- Shaquanda Greene-Noel (Trinidad & Tobago)
- Peta Toeava (New Zealand)
- Latanya Wilson (Jamaica)
Bet365 Sport – Betting Odds
Currently bet365 has the following odds on teams to win the tournament outright:
- Australia – 17/20 favourites
- Jamaica – 13/4
- New Zealand – 4/1
- England – 9/2
- South Africa – 66/1
- 100/1 bar
As you can see, Australia are the hot favourites with their superstar Gretel Bueta expected to lead the team to its 12th Netball World Cup success.
Can anybody stop them? Could England? Tune in from the 28th July to find out!
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