Start a conversation about netball anywhere and the anecdotes will start to flow.
My daughter gave it up when she was 13 because she was so self-conscious.
I wanted to come back after I had a baby but the idea of having to wear a dress at the age of 42 was just too daunting, so I never did.
The association’s rules were so strict, they even dictated what colour briefs we had to wear under our skirts!
As a young person coming to grips with my sexuality and how I wanted to present myself to the world, the girly skirts really put me off.
The dresses and skirts traditionally worn by netballers and the rigid rules around them have been the sartorial elephant in the room for the number one female team sport in Australia for decades; the reason cited more than any other for dropping out at all levels.
Anecdotal evidence, industry reports – such as Netball Australia’s 2020 State of the Game – and academic research – such as Victoria University’s 2021 What Girls Want in Sport Uniforms study – have shown uniform anxiety forces many women and girls to walk away from netball.
The reasons can be personal or religious, but either way they’re powerful and have proved to be a handbrake on the growth of the game, as well as a way to unfairly pigeonhole netball as old-fashioned and overly feminised The modern game is neither.
That’s why the decision by three elite sides to wear “inclusive” uniforms during a pre-season competition on the Gold Coast over the weekend – on the back of a move by the game’s governing body to update uniform rules last year – matters so much.
It’s the moment netball said: “This is a sport for everyone.”
While different state and territory associations and local competitions across the country have eased uniform requirements over time – most social netball leagues ditched skirts years ago – it has been on a case-by-case basis. Internationally, several nations already offer culturally appropriate uniforms.
But in adopting a new national policy last year Netball Australia chose to lead, albeit belatedly, from the top to “recognise the various individual preferences and religious beliefs of netballers”.
The new rules outline recommendations for players and umpires at all levels and provide “the option to choose from a combination of uniform variations”, taking into account that the game is predominately played outdoors, in winter, at the grassroots level and by people from all walks of life.
At this weekend’s Team Girls Cup, Super Netball’s official pre-season tournament, that policy came into play, with the Queensland Firebirds, Sunshine Coast Lightning and Adelaide Thunderbirds giving players a choice of what to wear each game.
It variously included singlets, shorts, long and short-sleeved T-shirts, leggings and skorts, in addition to the traditional playing dress.
In what was a jarring sight to some traditionalists, who commented they felt like they were perhaps watching a training run, players on-court weren’t truly “uniform” – in identical clothing – for the first time.
But they were comfortable and role models for girls and women who have consistently told the sport they feel isolated by what they are required to wear to play.
Bronwyn Klei, CEO of Netball South Australia, a state with many associations that embraced inclusive uniforms ahead of the official change, put it most simply – that clothing shouldn’t be a barrier for people to “join and thrive” in the game.
Firebirds midcourter and former Australian Diamond Gabi Simpson said allowing “people to feel comfortable, wear what they want to suit their beliefs or who they are” was so important because “netball is a space where we want people to be the freest version of themselves”.
It is not known if the other five Super Netball clubs will offer inclusive uniforms for the 2023 season, which begins on 18 March, but the league confirmed on Sunday it will be allowed under the rules.
“Inclusive uniforms are permitted throughout the regular season and will be worn at the clubs’ and players’ discretion,” a spokesperson said.
With netball fighting to maintain its position as the leading sport for women and girls against a plethora of emerging women’s codes, the pivot away from homogeny and towards inclusivity can only strengthen the future of the sport.
