The South Africa national netball team, nicknamed the SPAR Proteas, represents

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

in women's 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 ...

. The SPAR Proteas are coached by Dorette Badenhorst, and are captained by Bongiwe Msomi. The team are governed by Netball South Africa and sponsored by

SPAR SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well ...

. South Africa are currently fifth in the INF World Rankings.

History

South Africa have long been among the top five ranked nations in netball, having twice won medals at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, once with a third-place finish in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establ ...

and later securing runner-up status to Australia in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

. The national team was barred from participating in international test matches in 1969 because of the country's apartheid policies and were not readmitted until 1995. Their surprise appearance in 1995 World Cup Final came off the back of an historic victory over

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 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

earlier in the tournament and saw the team receive a medal from

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

personally. The SPAR Proteas have failed to claim a medal at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 British Empire Game ...

. As well as competing in World Cups and at the Commonwealth Games, the Proteas also regularly participate in the Quad Series against Australia, New Zealand and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, though the team has never finished above fourth place in the tournament. The Proteas also feature in the all-African

Diamond Challenge The Netball South Africa Challenge (previously known as the Diamond Challenge and currently known as the SPAR Challenge) is an international netball tournament held close to biannually in South Africa and organised by the country's governing bod ...

tournament most years, which they have won on each occasion thus far.

Players

Current team

The current squad was selected for 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 ...

Competitive history

References

External links

Netball South Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Africa National Netball Team National netball teams of Africa