The ladies in the England Netball team have good reason to be pleased with themselves. Not only have they convincingly beaten South Africa over a three-game series, but they also demonstrated that England are one of the favourites going into the Commonwealth games next year.

The second game of the series, played on 26 November 2005 in Cape Town, resulted in an easy win, 65-40, against the Boks. The start of the game was delayed by more than three hours as officials looked for sections of the floor that had apparently been “misplaced”. This is a sure entry into the “Unbelievable reasons for delaying a Netball Match” book which we plan to release soon (contact us for details).

While the indispensable Rachel Dunn had an excellent game once again, Karen Atkinson was named player of the match.

The third and final match (30th November 2005), and the last between the sides before the Commonwealths, saw England storm to a comfortable 58-38 win. The score line even more emphatic than in previous matches, and Marg Caldow (Coach) was handsomely rewarded for some successful decisions regarding the starting line-up.

The players really shone, with many sections of the game seeing complete dominance by England in all areas of the court. Deserving special mention, though, is the previously injured Amanda Newton, who clearly enjoyed being back on the international scene, her play showing that her 22 month recovery has done nothing but sharpen her netball skills.

English netball has seen a bit of a surge in popularity lately; the National Super League’s semi-well-publicised opening and more TV coverage having a lot to do with this.

England’s first game in a three-test series against the Boks was played at Johannesburg, South Africa on Wednesday.

The game was very close up until the fourth quarter when Rachel Dunn and the omnipotent Olivia Murphy helped the English team to pull away and win in impressive fashion.

The series of test matches leading up to the Commonwealth were always going to be very important for team confidence, and winning this first match in style certainly gives the England netball team the start they needed.

We’ve added two articles for a new series I’m planning - tips on improving your netball technique. The two articles cover the very basics of basic netball techniques, namely shooting and chest passes. Please take a look and tell me what you think.

We’ve added a nice little feature piece on the History of Netball. It’s a brief (and ultimately readable) overview of the events leading up to and contributing to the ascension of netball to its current position as one of the world’s favourite sports. We hope you enjoy it!

As always, any comment would be more than welcome.

We’ve added a small feature to the Netball Rules section which shows, in diagrammatic and tabular form the rules which limit players’ movements on court.

Pretty basic stuff, I’m sure, but nonetheless take a look and see what you think.

Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome! As you’ve probably seen over the last few days NetballFun has been experiencing what can only be described as a massive overhaul.

We’re still playing around with the site’s design a little bit, and we’re putting together some whizzy contraptions behind the scenes to ensure we keep our finger on the pulse. These are coming along nicely, and although they won’t make much difference to you, the viewer, they’ll mean that site updates can be made quickly and efficiently. (meaning there will be more of them). Watch this space!

The Design

We’ve changed the look and feel of the site. We’re looking, hopefully, for a clean looking and easy to use site that facilitates use. The current design is unlikely to stay for long, and if you’ve any comments than shoot them this way.

Content

We’re going to start filling the pages with tons of useful information. From netball fitness, to funny netball stories, to match reports. If you’ve got anything that you’d like contribute then, once again, tell us. Authors will get full credit!

The Forums

The forums are temporarily down. That’s the bad news. The good news is that this is only temporary. We’re looking for volunteers to help moderate what we hope will become a busy forum. volunteer if you fancy have a go at it and helping out. [Edit - the forums are now out of action for the forseeable future. If you want them back them let us know!]

Lastly

We hope you have a great time here. Browse away, contribute, and add to the discussions in the forums. See you back again soon!