This week we take a look at some of the greatest moments that past Netball World Cups have produced in Part 2 of The Roar‘s countdown to August.
Of course, we could conceivably leave the whole thing here, as technically there has never been a Netball World Cup before (the tournament was known as the Netball World Championship in all previous iterations) but fortunately for you, I’m not a literalist and will run you through my greatest moments of this quadrennial tournament anyway.
Singapore 2011
Tragedy struck the Diamonds in the lead-up to this tournament when captain Sharelle McMahon (side note: the greatest netballer/human being who has ever lived) ruptured her Achilles and was unable to play.
To add injury to injury, wing attack Lauren Nourse was also ruled out of the tournament with an ACL injury.
While McMahon’s spot at goal attack was ably filled by Natalie Medhurst and her position as captain by Natalie von Bertouch, Australia lacked sufficient Natalies to fill her third – and most important – role as ‘The Breaker of New Zealand Hearts’. But as the old saying goes, ‘If you can’t find enough Natalies, try a Caitlin’.
Try they did and 23-year-old Caitlin Bassett was up to the task, slotting the goal to win the game with seconds remaining and stomping all over the hearts of New Zealand in the process. Beautiful stuff.
New Zealand 2007
Following a coup in Fiji, there were concerns that the netballers might be the next to attempt to take power of the country and frankly, that would be very distracting and possibly ill advised. So the tournament was relocated to New Zealand, since the All Blacks were already running the country it didn’t leave a lot of scope for another sporting team to take power.
Having never won a home world championship before, and having taken out the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, New Zealand’s Silver Ferns were high on confidence and determined to put out a display as dominant as the Queensland Maroons playing against an Under-8s tee-ball team. Or, you know, the NSW Blues.
All was looking good for the home team as they stormed through the rounds, galloped through the qualifying finals, kicked some kittens and told some senior citizens where to go. Finally they reached the final and everything was coming up Milhouse.
Their defensive pressure was so immense they even got ‘The Great and Powerful’ McMahon benched. But slowly, slowly, Australia ground their way back into the match and even brought the Royal Sharelle back on court, where she and Medhurst combined for a nippy little goal circle that confused the big, lumbering Silver Ferns defensive giants.
Heartbreak was upon the Ferns and inspirational Australian captain Liz Ellis retired in a blaze of glory and – rumour has it – still has a trophy case stuffed full of shrivelled little New Zealand hearts that she collected during the post-match presentation.
Jamaica 2003
Aside from just another opportunity to showcase the brilliance of ‘The Grand Dame’ McMahon, two especially delightful moments make this tournament memorable.
The first was Australia’s round match against Jamaica. Although consistently a top four team, Jamaica has never really challenged too hard for a top two position, but on their home turf they were determined and ready to put up a fight.
However, just as they were really starting to worry the reigning champions, all the lights in the stadium mysteriously switched off. While it’s never been confirmed that Australian team official Mavis Sconemix used her knitting needles to short circuit the electricity to the stadium, I think we all know what really happened.
The break was (conveniently) just what Australia needed and they went on to win the match by five.
The other notable moment of this tournament was New Zealand centre Temepara George being sent off in the final for persistent and deliberate offside and obstruction. She had to sit out three goals. Without dwelling too much on how utterly ridiculous it is that the rules of netball allow for a player to be sent off for a certain number of goals, rather than minutes, thus limiting the level of advantage opposition teams can take from this occurring, it was a fairly hilarious moment.
Of course, it would have been even funnier if they were forced to play without a Ccentre and just sat the ball in the centre circle with all players racing Hunger Games style to get to it when the whistle blew, but alas, the umpires were rather committed to the rules of netball rather than comedy, so they allowed them to switch their wing defence into centre.
The result of the game you ask? No, pretty sure there wasn’t one. Move along, nothing to see here.
New Zealand 1999
While Jason Gillespie delights in labelling this year’s Australian Ashes team a ‘Dad’s Army’ the New Zealand media were getting their jollies from age-related humour all the way back in the last century, dubbing the Australian team for this tournament ‘Jill’s Geriatrics’, as they haven’t quite got the hang of alliteration over there.
However, at three-quarter time in the final it looked like the old folks were indeed ready for a nice cup of tea and a nanna nap and, at six goals behind, it looked like New Zealand had things all wrapped up. Coach Jill McIntosh looked at her bunch of geriatrics, gave them all a bit of a smack with their walking frames and made the brave decision to bench her captain, Vicki Wilson.
With the smart and hard-working Jenny Borlase at goal shooter and ‘Her Majesty’ Sharelle McMahon in goal attack, Australia fought back bit by bit, until Liz Ellis took an incredible rebound with the scores tied in the final minute of the game, sent the ball down court, where ‘Our Lord and Saviour’ McMahon casually shot the winning goal, pulled a wedgie out and challenged her team to a stacks-on competition as the final whistle blew.
It was the greatest moment ever and if you missed seeing it at the time, I pity you, your life is all the worse for it.
Final thoughts
While some people might question the integrity of an article purporting to discuss the history of an event that blatantly discounts the first nine installments of said event, I say that as far as I’m concerned, the dark days before McMahon debuted for Australia should never be discussed or dwelt upon.
So what then will 2015 bring us?
Will we see the entire Scottish team sent off for attempting to deep fry the game ball? Will the Samoan team steal the South African team’s lunches and throw them into the Parramatta River, while giggling with glee?
Will Sharni Layton succeed in her plan to overthrow tournament organisers and impose the rules of ‘Sharni-ball’ on the whole competition, decreeing that each game will consist of 17 x 15 minute 17ths and that attacking players will be penalised for touching the ball?
To find out, we must wait another four weeks and hope against hope that all these dreams come true.
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