In Australia and New Zealand, netball is one of the most popular sports played by women. Women's sport in Oceania has traditionally had a very low profile. Despite this, netball is popular in Oceania, with its growth partly because of New Zealand encouraging the game and providing money for the training of coaches, umpires and other netball development needs. Netball is one of the sports at the Pacific Games, a multi-sport event, with participation from countries around the South Pacific, that is held every four years. The popularity of netball is growing amongst men on the island countries in Oceania, because sport is an important way for villages to keep in touch with each other. The game's popularity can also be seen in local languages, where words have been created to describe it. In Niue, the words include neteplo, pelê neteplo, pelê. The Oceania Netball Federation

Oceania Netball Federation

The Oceania Netball Federation is the regional body within the International Federation of Netball Associations that governs netball across Oceania. The current co-ordinator is Briar Martindale...

 (ONF) is the governing body for netball in the Oceania region.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, netball is the most popular women's participation sport. In 1984, there were 114,210 players. There are over 11,000 teams and 120,440 players. The only sport that comes close is golf, which has 128,860 male and female players. Ninety-eight percent of New Zealand netball players are female. The sports with the next highest rates of female participation are field hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 and horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

, both at sixty-four percent. Netball is extremely popular amongst Māori women, who are more active in sport in general than their white counterparts. New Zealand took part in the 1960 netball meeting of Commonwealth countries

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 to try to standardise the rules for the game. New Zealand has a history of netball being a spectator sport with the games being televised on TVNZ

Television New Zealand

Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....

. The 1999 Netball World Championships final between Australia and New Zealand was the highest rated program ever on New Zealand television. New Zealand also has a men's national team that has competed in the 2009 and 2011 International Challenge Men’s and Mixed Netball Tournament. As of January 2011, the women's national team was ranked number one in the world.

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

 are a major netball playing country in Oceania, with over 1,000 registered members. The game became popular during the 1970s, and the team has been an important in the region since then. The country has participated at several international events including the Pacific Games, the Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....

, the Netball World Championships, the World Games

World Games

The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports, or disciplines or events within a sport, that are not contested in the Olympic Games...

, the Oceania Netball Tournament, the World Youth Netball Championship, and the International Challenge Men’s and Mixed Netball Tournament. Netball has a lot of grass roots support and is an important part of life for many women on the islands. Netball started to grow in popularity during the 1970s. The sport's popularity is partly due to the influence of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, where Cook Island players have competed for New Zealand's national team. New Zealand worked hard to develop the sport in the country during the 1980s, when they hosted a number of coaching and umpiring clinics. Participation in the international netball community has helped raise the Cook Islands profile globally. The Cook Islands won the netball competition at the first South Pacific Games

South Pacific Games

The Pacific Games is a multi-sport event, much like the Olympics , with participation exclusively from countries around the South Pacific. It is held every four years and began in 1963, hosted by Suva, Fiji.- Concept :The idea of holding the South Pacific Games originated with Dr A.H...

 (now Pacific Games), held in 1981. In the 1987 Netball World Championships

1987 Netball World Championships

The 1987 World Netball Championships was the seventh staging of the World Netball Championships, the premier tournament in international netball, held every four years. The 1987 tournament was held in Glasgow, Scotland and was contested by 17 teams....

 held in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 the Cook Islands team came in sixth. At the World Games 1989

World Games 1989

The third World Games were held in 1989 in Karlsruhe, then part of West Germany. There were 4.000 athletes from over 50 countries participated in 25 sports at the World Games.- Medal Table :-External links:* *...

 in Germany, the team came fourth. In the 1990 Oceania Netball Tournament, the team beat New Zealand, Tonga

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...

 and Fiji to come in second, behind Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. At the 1992 World Youth Cup in Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

, the Cook Islands U-21 team beat several high profile international teams including Wales, Samoa, and England. The Cook Islands defeat of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, 114–13, in that tournament was a record for the highest number of points scored in the tournament. The Cook Islands has a national team that competes in the international Golden Oldies netball tournament. In 2004, a team from the Cook Islands competed in the International Schoolgirls Netball Challenge. The country hosted the 2008 World Youth Championship and the 2009 International Challenge Men’s and Mixed Netball Tournament. As of January 2011, the women's national team was ranked number eleven in the world.

Fiji

Women's participation in netball in Fiji is comparable to men's participation in rugby. The sport started to grow in popularity during the 1970s. Netball has a large amount of grassroots support in Fiji. Games are most often played by girls on Saturdays during the winter, though games can be played at all times of the year. Samoa and Fiji are traditional netball rivals. This rivalry can be seen at events like Pacific Games. Fiji was supposed to host the 2007 World Netball Championship, but a military coup

2006 Fijian coup d'état

The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 occurred as a continuation of the pressure which had been building since the military unrest of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état and 2005-2006 Fijian political crisis....

 occurred. IFNA decided to move the championship to Auckland instead. As of January 2011, the women's national team was ranked number five in the world. Fiji has a men's national team that has competed in the 2009 and 2011 International Challenge Men’s and Mixed Netball Tournament.

Samoa

Netball has a large amount of grassroots support in Samoa. Games are most often played by girls on Saturdays during the winter, though games can be played at all times of the year. The sport started to grow in popularity during the 1970s. Rita Fatialofa was a Samoan netball player, who later went on to compete on New Zealand's national team. She became the coach for the Samoan national team, qualifying them for every Pacific Games. Samoa and Fiji are traditional netball rivals. This rivalry can be seen at events like Pacific Games. As of January 2011, the women's national team was ranked number nine in the world. Samoa has a men's national team that has competed in the 2009 and 2011 International Challenge Men's and Mixed Netball Tournament. At Gay Games VI held in 2000, a transgendered netball team from Samoa competed.