The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, 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 ...

league featuring teams from both

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and

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 coun ...

. Between

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and

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, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned and administered by Trans-Tasman Netball League Ltd (TTNL), a joint venture between

Netball Australia Netball Australia is the main governing body for netball in Australia. It is affiliated to World Netball. It is responsible for organising and administrating the Australia national netball team, Suncorp Super Netball and the Australian Natio ...

and

Netball New Zealand Netball New Zealand is the national body which oversees, promotes and manages netball in New Zealand, including the Silver Ferns. In 2019, 137,713 players were registered with Netball New Zealand, the governing body for organised netball in the co ...

. It was effectively a merger of Australia's

Commonwealth Bank Trophy The Commonwealth Bank Trophy, also referred to as the National Netball League, was the top level national Australian netball league between 1997 and 2007. The league was organized by Netball Australia. Its main sponsor was the Commonwealth Ba ...

and New Zealand's National Bank Cup. Its main sponsor was the

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fourth-largest bank by ma ...

. In 2008,

New South Wales Swifts New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was ...

were the inaugural ANZ Championship winners.

Queensland Firebirds Queensland Firebirds are an Australian netball team based in Brisbane, Queensland. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they played in the ...

were the most successful team during the ANZ Championship era, playing in five grand finals and winning three premierships in

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and 2016. They were also the only team to win back to back ANZ Championship titles. Both

Melbourne Vixens Melbourne Vixens is an Australian netball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Victoria in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was formed in 2007 wh ...

(

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) and Adelaide Thunderbirds (

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) won two titles each. The most successful New Zealand team were Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic who were premiers in

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and were the only team in the competitions history, to contest the finals series every year. In May 2016, Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand announced that the ANZ Championship would be discontinued after the 2016 season. In Australia it was replaced by

Suncorp Super Netball Suncorp Super Netball is the top level netball league featuring teams from Australia. In 2017 it replaced the ANZ Championship, which also included teams from New Zealand, as the top level netball league in Australia. Since 2019, the league has ...

and in New Zealand it was replaced by the ANZ Premiership.

Teams

2008

The ANZ Championship featured five

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

and five

teams. Adelaide Thunderbirds and

of the

league became founders of the new league. Several other Commonwealth Bank Trophy teams were transformed to form ANZ Championship teams. Sydney Swifts and

Hunter Jaegers Hunter Jaegers were an Australian netball team based in Newcastle, New South Wales. Together with Sydney Swifts and Sydney Sandpipers, they were one of three teams to represent Netball New South Wales in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league. H ...

merged to become

, Melbourne Kestrels and

Melbourne Phoenix Melbourne Phoenix were an Australian netball team that represented Netball Victoria in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. Between 1997 and 2007, together with Melbourne Kestrels, they were one of two teams to represent Netball Victoria in the Commo ...

merged to become

and Perth Orioles were rebranded as

West Coast Fever West Coast Fever is an Australian netball team based in Perth, Western Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they competed in the ANZ Championship. Between 1997 and 2007, as Perth Orioles, th ...

. Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic and

Canterbury Flames Canterbury Flames were a New Zealand netball team based in Christchurch, Canterbury. Between 1998 and 2007 they played in the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup league. In 2008, when the National Bank Cup was replaced by the ANZ Championship, Ca ...

of the National Bank Cup league also became founders of the new league. Flames were rebranded as

Canterbury Tactix Mainland Tactix are a New Zealand netball team based in Christchurch, Canterbury. Between 1998 and 2007, as Canterbury Flames, they played in the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup league. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championsh ...

. The remaining six National Bank Cup teams were merged into three new teams –

Central Pulse Central Pulse are a New Zealand netball team based in Wellington. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Central in the ANZ Premiership. Netball Central is the governing body that r ...

Northern Mystics Northern Mystics are a New Zealand netball team based in Auckland. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Northern in the ANZ Premiership. Netball Northern is the governing body t ...

and

Southern Steel Southern Steel are a New Zealand netball team based in Invercargill. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball South in the ANZ Premiership. Netball South is the governing body that re ...

2016

Australian Conference

New Zealand Conference

History

Formation

The ANZ Championship was founded in 2007 and played it inaugural season in

. The competition was owned and administered by Trans-Tasman Netball League Ltd (TTNL), a joint venture between

and

. It was effectively a merger of Australia's

and New Zealand's National Bank Cup. Its main sponsor was the

Five seasons, five champions

became the inaugural ANZ Championship winners after defeating the minor premiers, Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic 65–56 in the grand final. In

were both minor premiers and overall champions. Swifts went through the entire

regular season home and away undefeated, winning 13 consecutive matches and finishing as minor premiers. However they subsequently lost both the major semi-final and the preliminary final to Adelaide Thunderbirds and Magic respectively and eventually finished the season in third place. After defeating Swifts in the major semi-final, Thunderbirds defeated Magic 52–42 in the grand final. In

finished the season undefeated. They became the first team in the history of the ANZ Championship to go through the regular season and the playoffs without losing a single match. In the grand final they defeated

. In

, Magic became fifth team in as many seasons to win the title. Vixens won the minor premiership after winning 10 of their 13 matches. Meanwhile, Magic lost their first four matches. However, they subsequently won 12 matches in a row to finish third during the regular season and champions overall. In the minor semi-final they defeated Thunderbirds and in the preliminary final they defeated Mystics. In the grand final they defeated Vixens 41–38. As a result, they became the first, and only,

team to win the ANZ Championship.

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic

The most successful

team during ANZ Championship era were Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic. In

they were minor premiers and overall runners up. In

they were regular season runners up. In

they were overall runners up and grand finalists for a second time. In

they were again regular season runners up. In

they made their third grand final appearance and, after defeating

41–38 they finished as

premiers Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

. As a result, they became the first, and only, New Zealand team to win the ANZ Championship. In both

and

, Magic also finished as winners of the New Zealand Conference.

Thunderbirds and Vixens: second titles

Having previously won the

title, in

Adelaide Thunderbirds became the first team to win a second championship. Having won their first title in

, in

won their second ANZ Championship.

Queensland Firebirds

were the most successful team during the ANZ Championship era. In 2009,

Roselee Jencke Roselee Jencke is a former Australia national netball team, Australia netball international and List of netball coaches in Australia, netball coach. As a player, Jencke was a member of the Australia teams that won the gold medal at the 1991 Wo ...

was appointed head coach. Between 2011 and 2016, Jencke guided Firebirds to five grand finals and three premierships in

and

. They were the only team to win back to back ANZ Championship titles.

Romelda Aiken Romelda Aiken-George (néé Aiken) (born 19 November 1988) is a Jamaican netball player. Aiken debuted for the Jamaica national team in 2005 as a replacement for regular shooter Elaine Davis. The shooter rose to international prominence durin ...

Laura Geitz Laura Geitz (born 4 November 1987) is a former Australian netball player and former captain of the Australian national team. Geitz was selected for the 2008 Australian national team, and has won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, ...

and

Clare McMeniman Clare McMeniman (born 11 July 1985), also known as Clare Ferguson, is a former Australia netball international. She captained Australia when they won the 2016 Netball Quad Series and the 2016 Constellation Cup. McMeniman was also a member of ...

formed the nucleus of the Firebirds squad and featured in all three Championship winning squads.

Demise

In May 2016,

and

announced that the ANZ Championship would be discontinued after the 2016 season. In

it was replaced by

and in

it was replaced by the ANZ Premiership.

Format

2008–2014

Between

and

, the regular season saw the five

teams play each other twice and the

teams once. Similarly, the New Zealand teams played each other twice and each of the Australian teams once. The ten teams played 13 games – eight home-and-away matches against teams from their country and five alternating home or away games against teams from the other country. The top four teams from the regular season subsequently qualified for the Finals Series which used a Page-McIntyre System to determine the overall champion.

Conference system

The

season saw some major format changes. The league introduced separate Australian and New Zealand conferences, a restructured six-team Finals Series and a new competition, the Challenge Trophy. Teams continued to play 13 games – eight home-and-away matches against teams in their own conference and five alternating home or away games against teams in the other conference. The ANZ Championship also introduced draws for the first time. During the regular season, drawn games would see both teams get a point each. Extra time will only be played during the Finals Series. On 15 March 2015, the

Round 3 ''Round 3'' is Kim Hyun-joong's third Korean mini-album, which was released on July 22, 2013. Background and development Two days after the "2013 KHJ Show - Party People" fanmeeting in Seoul, Korea, KeyEast stated that Kim would be releasing hi ...

match between

and

finished 47–47. It was the first official draw in the eight seasons of the league.

Grand finals

Minor premierships

Media coverage

Notable players

References

{{Netball leagues 2007 establishments in Australia 2007 establishments in New Zealand 2016 disestablishments in Australia 2016 disestablishments in New Zealand Sports leagues established in 2007 Defunct netball leagues in New Zealand Defunct netball leagues in Australia Defunct professional sports leagues in Australia Defunct professional sports leagues in New Zealand