The rich history of netball's fiercest rivalry

Netball's fiercest rivalry dates back eight decades and has delivered some absolute thrillers on court.

And with the Origin Australian Diamonds taking on the New Zealand Silver Ferns this week, there’s no doubt it will be no different.

The duo first met 84 years ago when Australia were the first winners on court.

It wasn’t until a decade later that New Zealand got a taste of victory winning an unofficial nine-a-side game against the Australians.

Between them the two netball powerhouses hold 15 Netball World Championship titles and six Commonwealth Games gold medals.

In 1963 the first World Tournament (also known as the World Championships and currently the World Cup) was played in England, and Australia finished world champions with a thrilling one-goal victory over New Zealand.

The following World Tournament ended in New Zealand flipping the script taking the win with Australia then taking back the World Tournament title in the following one. Setting the baseline for the rivalry to grow.

The competitiveness between the two teams went up a notch in 1998 with netball becoming recognised as a Commonwealth Games sport. Given their history together and their dominance on the world netball stage the final of that match came down to the two sides with Australia bringing home a gold medal.
 

A year later, the 1999 World Championships made Diamond 121, Sharelle McMahon a household name. McMahon slotted the winning goal against the Ferns with only two seconds on the clock. 

The rivalry continued to ignite in the early 2000s with the 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medal match between the Diamonds and Silver Ferns being forced into double extra time. 

Australia hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and the stage was set for a home gold medal but the Silver Ferns had other plans, winning the final match by five goals.

In 2009, the rivalry between Australia and New Zealand transcended from traditional netball to the five-a-side version. The Fast5 Netball World Series (FastNet now Fast5) was first played in Liverpool in 2009. New Zealand has won multiple Fast5 Netball World Series titles while the Fast5 version of netball is the only title Australia is yet to win.

The Origin Diamonds and Silver Ferns found themselves in another hotly contested gold medal match at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The match has gone down in netball history as the longest match ever played at the elite level going into double extra time as it did in 2002. Goal for goal, every second mattered and it was New Zealand’s Maria Folau (nee’ Tutaia) who scored the winning goal.

In 2010 the two teams also met for the first time with a perpetual trophy on the line, the Constellation Cup.
 

Despite the tightness of the Commonwealth Games, the Origin Australian Diamonds made history, convincingly winning the first Constellation Cup series two matches to one. The Silver Ferns won their first Constellation Cup in 2012. 

With the heartbreak of 2010 fresh, the Origin Diamonds went on to win the 2011 World Championships against their rivals from across the ditch by a goal. Then in front of a home crowd in 2015, Australia mobilised against New Zealand again to win gold. 

New Zealand went through a bit of a rough patch in 2017 and 2018, losing the Constellation Cup 4-0 to Australia with losses also to England and Jamaica ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The Silver Ferns dropped out of the top two in the International Netball Federation’s World Rankings in 2018 to third. 

The Ferns were quick to bounce back though at the Netball World Cup in 2019. The Silver Ferns found themselves again and at the right time charged to the top in England to defeat the Origin Australian Diamonds in the gold medal match by a single goal.

The Origin Diamonds won the 2019 Constellation Cup between then and the next iteration of the Constellation Cup in 2021 there were a lot of changes in the Diamonds camp with retirements, injuries and a change in coach.

The Silver Ferns won the 2021 Constellation Cup but when they next met at the Quad Series in January 2022 the Origin Diamonds won convincingly by 14 goals. 
 

The two sides did not meet at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this year with the Silver Ferns finishing third having defeated England and the Origin Diamonds taking home the gold medal with a win over Jamaica.

The next chapter of the rivalry is underway with the 2022 Constellation Cup up for grabs. 

Will the Silver Ferns hold onto the Constellation Cup title, or will the Origin Diamonds add it to their stellar 2022?

Australian audiences can watch live and free on Kayo Freebies and Foxtel. For full broadcast information click here.

More information on the Constellation Cup and merchandise can be found here.