Norma Margaret Plummer AM (born 24 November 1944) is a former Australian national player who also served as

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 ...

coach for both Australia and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. She was coach of Australia from 2003 to 2011, ending her coaching career with the Diamonds on 67 victories from 89 Tests — a success rate of 75 per cent. She was replaced as coach of Australia by

Lisa Alexander Lisa Alexander (born September 22, 1968) is a Canadian former competitor in synchronised swimming and Olympic medallist. Career Born in Toronto, Ontario, Alexander began synchronized swimming at age eight. She had success in solo, duet and team ...

. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the sport. In November 2022 it is announced she will be returning to South Africa to coach the South Africa national netball side the Spar Proteas starting in 2022. The announcement comes ahead of next years 2023 Netball World Cup that will be held in South Africa.

Early career

Norma Plummer began her career in 1967 and represented Australian Diamonds in 1972 with who she spent a decade which includes the win at the 1975 World Netball Championships in New Zealand. She had a long and successful career as an Australian representative netballer, including a four-Test stint as national captain in 1978. After some time as playing coach of her state league team, Plummer embarked on a successful coaching career, coaching the Victorian state team to several victories at the national netball championships which was followed by her retirement from the team in 1982. and coaching the Melbourne Pumas in the Esso/Mobil Superleague. After the Mobil Superleague was disbanded in favour of the new

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 ...

, Plummer became the founding coach of the new

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 Common ...

team, which took many of the players from the former Pumas, and successfully coached them to the inaugural premiership. She was also appointed coach of the Australian youth team and took them to several successes. She subsequently resigned as coach of the Phoenix at the beginning of the 1999 season in order to take up a position as head netball coach at the Australian Institute of Sport. While in this role, she was integral in the campaign to add the

AIS Canberra Darters Canberra Darters are a former Australian netball team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The team was originally formed as a partnership between the Australian Institute of Sport and Netball ACT. Between 2003 and 2007 they played ...

to the national competition.

National coach

After several years as coach of the national youth team, and having been rumoured for the head national coach position since the late 1980s, Plummer was the obvious favourite when Jill McIntosh resigned in July 2003, and subsequently took the reins of the national team in late August. In her nearly three years as coach for the Australian team, she has retained her prior reputation as a hard coach willing to axe even star players if not performing, and remains widely respected, even with a downturn in the team's fortunes during 2005. In June 2006 after the silver medal in March at the Commonwealth Games Norma Plummer led her young team to victory in all Test Match Series in 2006 & 2007 and in November 2007 won the World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. In 2008 Plummer's team Australian Diamonds, had beaten Silver Ferns 53 to 51 at the Horncastle Arena and two years later won a silver medal at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

in New Delhi. She also coached Australian national team at the 2011 Netball World Championships in Singapore. Norma has announced that she will be coaching the

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, t ...

for season 2012. In June 2015 Plummer became the head coach of the

South Africa national netball team The South Africa national netball team, nicknamed the SPAR Proteas, represents South Africa in women's international netball. The SPAR Proteas are coached by Dorette Badenhorst, and are captained by Bongiwe Msomi. The team are governed by Netb ...

. During the 2013

Australia Day honours The Australian honours and awards system refers to all Order (distinction), orders, decorations, and medals, as instituted by letters patent from the Monarchy of Australia, Monarch of Australia and countersigned by the Australian prime minister a ...

, Plummer was appointed a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia. In 2014, after a 66–65 loss by her team

, which was playing in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

at that time, a resident of the city had made death threats towards her on her personal webpage. In 2018, Plummer had revealed that although she doesn't have a signed contract with the Netball South Africa, she will lead its national team to greatness at the

2019 Netball World Cup The 2019 Netball World Cup (also known as the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the INF Netball World Cup. It was held from 12–21 July 2019 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, England with match ...

in Liverpool. She stepped down as the coach of South African team following the 2019 World Cup where South Africa ended up at fourth position.

References

External links

Speaker biography ICMI: Norma Plummer
Retrieved on 2009-03-28.

Retrieved on 2009-02-23. {{DEFAULTSORT:Plummer, Norma Australian netball coaches West Coast Fever coaches Living people 1944 births Australian Institute of Sport netball coaches Australia international netball players Members of the Order of Australia Australia national netball team coaches Netball players from Melbourne Australian Netball League coaches Melbourne Phoenix coaches Commonwealth Bank Trophy coaches ANZ Championship coaches Esso/Mobil Superleague coaches 1975 World Netball Championships players People from Carlton, Victoria