The Edith Hull Collection holds a veritable treasure trove of netball newsletters and magazines packed full of stories and photographs, of people and places. A paper-based time capsule of Victorian netball, these items reveal much about the story of the game and the people who played it.
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has just opened in Canberra. Seven Victorian netballers have been awarded AIS scholarships. Australia will play England and New Zealand in Brisbane in June. Netball clinics will be held in Ouyen, Colac, and Shepparton. The Exies Netballers’ Association will hold their next function in April. And the Victorian Netball Association (VNA) are selling a set of seven bibs – in various colours – for $18.
These are just some of the news items one would have read when the first issue of Netball News Victoria arrived in the mailbox. Before email and before social media, there were newsletters and magazines. The initial issue of Netball News was published in February 1981. The newsletter was a way for the VNA to share news and information with the nearly 100,000 people playing netball across the state.
In the first issue, Gary Fellow-Smith, state director of the VNA, said that Netball News would be “a useful communication avenue between members of netballing communities”. And Lorna McConchie, president of the VNA, wrote that the newsletter belonged to the Victorian netball community and would hopefully be “one way of bringing us together”.
Columns by Gary Fellow, the State Director, and Lorna McConchie, President of the Victorian Netball Association, featured in the initial Netball News, February 1981.
What is evident from the columns of Fellow-Smith and McConchie in this opening issue was that finding ways to share news and information about the VNA and the many associations and competitions in both urban and regional communities was challenging. Resources were stretched and opportunities to reach a large number of people quickly and easily in 1980s were limited. But the VNA recognised that the challenge was one they had to find a solution for. Netball News was their solution.
Alongside news of state and national teams and international games, advertisements and profiles of players, coaches and umpires, Netball News also regularly shared updates from their suburban and regional associations. There was news of new courts and training start dates, of tournaments and competitions and coaching clinics. And they shared news of new babies and weddings, too. Today, these updates are a fascinating window into another time but when they were printed, they were a force for community building, a way to stitch threads between the game and the people who loved it.
‘Personality Profiles’ were important features in Netball News. In the above story from August-September 1981, the early achievements of Noeleen Dix are outlined.
Moreover, for the netball history enthusiast these updates are a goldmine of dates and names: Netball in Frankston was established in 1966 by Judy Hunt. By 1981, netball was booming in Sale with two new courts under lights opening. Kyabram won its first tournament in Wangaratta in 1968.
There is plenty to glean too about the coverage of netball by mainstream media in Netball News. The netball community were certainly aware that their sport received very little coverage, but they also were not prepared to accept this status quo. Readers were updated about when netball would be shown on television or covered on the radio and when it had appeared or would appear in magazines, and encouraged to watch, listen, and buy copies. They were similarly encouraged to submit netball news to the VNA or directly to radio stations and newspapers in the hopes that “we may get a netball column”. They were implored to send a letter to broadcasters saying how much they had enjoyed the Trans Australian Airways interstate netball series and that they were “looking forward to the series next year”.
In later issues, as the newsletter reached more of the community, letters from readers – some offering constructive criticism – and questions about rules filtered into the pages. There were more advertisements, the black and white covers became colour and newsprint was replaced by glossy pages. There were names changes too. Netball News became the Victorian Netballer which then became Contact.
Printed newsletters and magazines may seem like a relic of the past. But Netball News is an important record of the game, of the people who played and coached and umpired. It is also an evocative record of the role netball played in the community.
Curatorial Notes:
The State Library of Victoria also has a large collection of publications related to netball in Victoria. Anyone with further information or memories to share from their personal collection of Victorian netball magazines should contact Netball Victoria at communications@netballvic.com.au.
