Jose Sanchez
Research expert covering society, economy, & politics for Latin America
Netball - statistics & facts
Developed in the late 19th century as a variation on basketball, netball is played all over the world, being particularly popular in Britain and areas formerly colonized by the country. While the sport has featured in the Commonwealth Games since 1998, it is not yet an Olympic sport. This is not due to lack of demand however, with a significant share of adults in Great Britain expressing support for netball to be included in the Olympics. Nevertheless, a number of high-profile netball competitions do exist, such as the Netball World Cup. Australia has historically dominated this competition, winning more Netball World Cup titles than all other countries combined. Australia’s domestic netball league, Suncorp Super Netball (SSN), is also of a high standard, with a sizeable following - in 2024, SSN’s total attendance amounted to over 360,000. If netball successfully became an Olympic sport in the future, it would no doubt help this fan base to grow, as well as provide the sport with much-needed funding.
