Sandra Richards (1949—2005) was a

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 from the

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

area of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, who played on four occasions for

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 ...

, winning a silver medal in the 1971 world championships.

Netball career

Sandra (Sandy) Richards (née Norman) was born on 8 March 1949. A member of the

Canterbury region Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current fo ...

netball team on New Zealand's

, she was chosen to play for the ''Silver Ferns'', 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 ...

, in 1970. Playing as Sandra Norman, her first match was against

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

on 3 November 1970, ''en route'' to the 1971 world championships, which were held in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

at the end of 1970 and beginning of 1971. New Zealand came second in the championships, losing 48–42 to Australia. Richards played in the Goal shooter (GS) and Goal attack (GA) positions.

Death

Richards died on 3 June 2005. A trophy awarded annually to its "Most Outstanding Senior Player" by the Belfast Netball Club, in the suburbs of Christchurch, is in Richards' name.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Sandra 1949 births 2005 deaths New Zealand international netball players 1971 World Netball Championships players Netball players from Christchurch