A growing wave of support is building behind a petition to include netball in the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.
The petition gathered over 15,000 pledges within its first two weeks.
Chair of Netball Australia, Liz Ellis AO, published the petition along with an essay titled It’s About Merit. It’s About Time.
View this post on Instagram
The most capped netballer in Australian history, pleads with Australians in her call to action, to join a movement to redefine the future of the sport on home soil.
“What better sport to showcase in Australia, where netball is deeply embedded in the DNA of every city, town, village, community in this country”, she says in the essay.
Former West Coast Fever General Manager, Sue Gaudion, highlights the anticipation of the possibility of marketing netball to practically every young girl and boy around the world on the biggest stage.
“I think this would be such an opportunity for Netball, with countries watching our game potentially for the first time…
Whilst the countries already playing it, gives them the ability to raise netball’s profile in their own country.”
Why isn’t netball already in the Olympic Games?
Netball became a recognised sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1995 and is frequently included in the Commonwealth Games programme.
But the sport has never performed on the Olympic stage due to its inability to meet the IOC’s required criteria of inclusivity and equality.
Most notably due to the gender imbalance between the number of men and women playing netball at elite levels worldwide.
Women and girls have a higher participation rate than men and boys in Australia.
According to the IOC’s 2025 Olympic Charter, any new Olympic sport must be played by men in 75 countries across four continents and by women in 40 countries across three continents.
World Netball claims that more than 20 million people play netball in 76 member nations across five continents.
Striving for the addition of netball in the Olympic programme in Australia, the Australian Men’s and Mixed Netball Association (AMMNA) continues to grow from strength to strength.
“It seems that the Olympic movement wants diversity represented within its sports; this… opens up a terrific opportunity for our men’s game,” says Sue.
Growing male interest in netball is the key
Sue also believes the push for Olympic inclusion comes at a pivotal moment, coinciding with the rising popularity of men’s netball.
“Whilst the space has already had tremendous growth, both domestically and internationally, inclusion in the Olympics would no doubt see further growth of the men’s game globally.”
The national men’s netball team, the Australian Kelpies, compete internationally at the Men’s Fast5 Netball World Series, where the team won gold last year.
Retired Kelpies player, Jerome Gilbard, notes that when he first started playing netball, it was certainly a female-dominated sport.
“That perception or stigma associated with a man or a male playing netball has significantly shifted over the past 10, 15, 20 years, which I think is such a wonderful thing…
I think the more exposure, the more socially acceptable it has become because people can see it and know that’s a sport that everyone can love and enjoy.”
Jerome was formally the West Coast Men’s and Mixed Netball Association (WCMMNA) president and is excited for the potential engagement of young fans globally, with both male and female netball teams at an Olympic level.
“The last probably five years now, there’s been a significant shift in terms of the exposure, the media coverage, the screening, the televised matches, that I think…
If you can see it, then you can want to be it.”
How could netball be included in the Games by 2032?
Since the 2020 Tokyo Games, the IOC has extended the Olympic programme by allowing host cities to propose additional sports.
The chosen sports often reflect local culture and popularity, like baseball and squash, which are set to feature in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
This has opened the door for World Netball to work closely with Netball Australia to make a compelling case for the Brisbane 2032 Games.
“The opportunity to potentially have netball first played at an Olympics in Brisbane is an added interest for Australia, hence the reason they are working so closely with World Netball to advocate this space,” says Sue.
Netball Australia continues to advocate for netball to be shown on a global scale, signing a multi-year broadcast deal with the All Women’s Sport Network (AWSN) earlier this year.
This deal will see the Australian national women’s games broadcasted to more than 65 countries worldwide next season.
Sue also notes a shift in momentum that has been growing in the background for netball to take the global stage.
“The more noise netball can make around its desire to be represented at the Olympics…the better our chances are.”
