Lesley Marie Rumball (née Nicol, born 9 May 1973) is a former

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 ...

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. Rumball played with 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 ...

, the Silver Ferns, from 1993 to 2005. She represented New Zealand in 109 tests to become the second most capped player in Silver Ferns history behind

Irene van Dyk Irene van Dyk (née Viljoen; born 21 June 1972) is a South African-born New Zealand netball player. A goal-shooter, van Dyk is one of the world's best-known netballers and is the most capped international player of all time: in every game she ...

. Rumball played as a midcourt defender during her top-level netball career, before her retirement in 2006.

Silver Ferns career

Rumball debuted for the national team, the Silver Ferns, in 1993. During her time with the Silver Ferns, she played in three

Netball World Championships The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by the World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and th ...

(1995, 1999, 2003) and two Commonwealth Games (1998, 2002). She was co-captain of the Silver Ferns with

Bernice Mene Bernice Papasina Mene (born 18 January 1975) is a former New Zealand netball player. Mene represented New Zealand in netball for the Silver Ferns for 10 years, playing 78 tests. She captained the domestic team the Southern Sting from 1998 to ...

from 1999 to 2001 and 2003 to 2004; she was also vice-captain in 1998, 2002 and 2005.

Domestic netball

Rumball played for the

Otago Rebels The Otago Rebels was a New Zealand netball team which represented Otago in the National Bank Cup. Otago Rebels were the first team to win the inaugural (what was then known as) Coca-Cola Cup. In 2008, the Rebels were merged with Southern Sting to ...

in the National Bank Cup in 1998, with the Rebels winning the title that season. The following year she changed to

Southern Sting The Southern Sting were a netball team based in Invercargill, New Zealand that competed in the National Bank Cup competition, formerly known as the Coca-Cola Cup. The Southern Sting team won the National Bank Cup seven times and are the only te ...

in 1999, under coach

Robyn Broughton Robyn Denise Broughton (née Quirk) is a New Zealand netball coach. Broughton coached the Southern Sting from 1998 to 2007 during the National Bank Cup, winning seven titles in ten years. She was also an assistant coach for the New Zealand nati ...

. With the Sting she also won Cup titles every year from 1999 to 2004, and 2nd place in 2005 and 2006. She also became Sting captain in 2003 after Bernice Mene retired from all levels of netball. Rumball retired from the Silver Ferns in 2005 and the Southern Sting in 2006.

Outside of netball

She married Chris Rumball, who is also a doctor. She and her husband travelled overseas following her retirement from top-level netball, living two years in the United Kingdom followed by a year at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. She subsequently moved back to New Zealand to continue her career in sports medicine through

Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians The Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians (ACSEP) is a not-for-profit professional organisation responsible for training, educating, and representing over 350 doctors in Australia and New Zealand. These doctors practise medicine ...

. In the

2004 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2004 were appointments by some of the Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

Rumball was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

for services to netball.New Year Honours List 2004
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 7 July 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumball, Lesley 1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Invercargill Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand netball players New Zealand international netball players Netball players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Netball players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in netball New Zealand sports physicians 1995 World Netball Championships players 1999 World Netball Championships players 2003 World Netball Championships players Southern Sting players Otago Rebels players