Tania Mary Dalton (née Nicholson; 26 November 1971 – 1 March 2017) was a

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 ...

international

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. After retiring from playing professionally, she worked as a netball commentator on

SKY Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

for international tests, the

ANZ Championship The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned ...

and National Championships, alongside former internationals Anna Stanley,

Natalie Avellino Natalie Ann Allison Avellino (born 15 December 1970) is a retired Australian netballer, and former assistant coach of the Southern Steel netball team in the ANZ Championship. She made the Australia national netball team from 1994–1995 and again ...

Kathryn Harby-Williams Kathryn Harby-Williams (born 16 July 1969) is an Australian netball player and television presenter. She captained the Australian netball team. Harby-Williams currently works with Radio Sport New Zealand and is a Sky TV commentator for Sky S ...

and

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 ...

. Dalton was also a part owner of the franchise food outlet chain, Pita Pit New Zealand Limited.

Career

Dalton was a member of the New Zealand national netball team, the

Silver Ferns 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 ...

from 1996–2004 and 2006–07; she was also named in 2005 but was forced out through injury. She played domestic netball for the

Northern Force Northern Force are a former New Zealand netball team based in North Harbour, North Shore, Auckland Region. As a result, they were also known as either North Harbour Force or North Shore Force. Between 1998 and 2007, Force played in the Coc ...

from 1998 until 2000, and the championship-winning

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 ...

from 2002–2006. She was part of the 2003 Netball World Championships winning

squad. She made 12 caps for the Silver Ferns in total, playing in the positions of goal shooter (GS) and goal attack (GA). In 2007, she withdrew from the Silver Ferns to concentrate on family commitments. In 2008, Dalton made a minor comeback to elite netball replacing injured Australian import

Megan Dehn Megan Anderson, also known as Megan McWilliams and previously known as Megan Dehn, is a former Australia netball international and current netball coach. Between 2000 and 2006 she made 20 senior appearances for Australia. She was a member of t ...

in the

Southern Steel Southern Steel are a netball in New Zealand, New Zealand netball team based in Invercargill. Between 2008 ANZ Championship season, 2008 and 2016 ANZ Championship season, 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 ANZ Premiership seas ...

line. She did not take the court but was also offered a two-game contract by

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 ...

who lost

Paula Griffin Paula Griffin (born 11 July 1988 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a New Zealand netball player of Samoan descent. Griffin was named in the New Zealand U21 team for 2006. That year, she also signed with the Auckland Diamonds to play in the Nationa ...

to injury, which she declined. During the 2011

pre-season,

shooter Daneka Wipiiti injured her ankle and was ruled out of action for up to a week. Dalton returned to the Steel as a temporary replacement player on 14 February that year.

Death

Dalton collapsed on 23 February 2017 while playing a regular game of social touch rugby in her home suburb of

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

, Auckland. She was running at the time and was not injured in the game. She was immediately hospitalised in a critical condition with a ruptured internal carotid artery aneurysm. On 28 February, her family agreed to the removal of her life support therapy. She died on 1 March.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, Tania 1971 births 2017 deaths New Zealand netball players New Zealand television presenters New Zealand international netball players Southern Steel players Deaths from intracranial aneurysm Netball players from Auckland People from Takapuna New Zealand women television presenters People educated at Carmel College, Auckland New Zealand netball commentators 2003 World Netball Championships players Northern Force players Southern Sting players Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic players National Bank Cup players