Anne Taylor (née Downey; born 23 October 1953) is a former

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on three occasions, including in the 1975 World Netball Championships.

Early life

Anne Taylor attended Matamata College in

Matamata Matamata () is a town in Waikato, New Zealand. It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which tak ...

in the

Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

region of New Zealand's North Island and then obtained a diploma in teaching of commerce and physical education from the Auckland Teachers' College, later known as the

Auckland College of Education The Auckland College of Education, earlier known as the Auckland Training College and the Auckland Teachers' Training College, was a teachers' college in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. It was established in 1881 and was based in the Aucklan ...

and now part of the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

Netball career

Taylor had two elder sisters, Claire and Faye, who were both netball players, and she followed in their footsteps. She played for the Arahi netball team in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

at the age of 16 and then joined the

team. While playing for Auckland she was selected for the North Island team to play the South Island. She was then chosen in 1974 for the New Zealand Under-24 team, which toured England and Australia and was the first New Zealand team to be coached by Dame Lois Muir. Taylor played in the Goal Shooter (GS), Goal attack (GA) and Wing attack (WA) positions. Taylor was selected for the

New Zealand national netball team The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern (''Cyathea dealbata''), which is an emblem for many New Zealand s ...

, known as the ''Silver Ferns'', for the 1975 world championships, which were held in Auckland, making her debut against Fiji on 26 August, and playing in two other matches. New Zealand came third in the tournament.

Later life

In 1974, Taylor returned to Matamata College, as a teacher of accounting and physical education. Married to Phil Taylor, she left the school in 1978 to have four children, returning to the College in 1985. Her two daughters went to the same school and played for its netball team, which Taylor coached for a number of years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Anne 1953 births Living people New Zealand international netball players 1975 World Netball Championships players University of Auckland alumni People from Matamata New Zealand schoolteachers Sportspeople from Waikato