Netball

Overview

Seven players a side, shooting at a ring 3.05 metres high with no backboard. You can't run with the ball, each position is limited to certain areas of the court, and you have three seconds to get rid of the ball.

Governed by World Netball. This entry is checked against the Rules of Netball, 2024 Edition, in force for international matches from 1 January 2024 and still the current edition. Rule numbers below are World Netball's.

1. The court and positions

The court is 30.5 metres by 15.25 metres, split into three equal thirds. A goal circle, a semicircle of 4.9 metres radius, sits at each end, and a centre circle of 0.9 metres diameter in the middle.

Each position may enter only certain areas (Rule 3):

Position	Allowed areas
GS Goal Shooter	Attacking third and attacking goal circle
GA Goal Attack	Attacking third, attacking goal circle, centre third
WA Wing Attack	Attacking third and centre third, not the circle
C Centre	All three thirds, neither goal circle
WD Wing Defence	Defending third and centre third, not the circle
GD Goal Defence	Defending third, defending goal circle, centre third
GK Goal Keeper	Defending third and defending goal circle

Offside

Entering an area your position doesn't allow is offside, "whether the player has contact with the ball or not" (Rule 14). The other side gets a free pass. Two details:

• Standing on the line is fine, as long as no part of you goes over it.
• You may reach across and pick up the ball, or lean on it, in an offside area, provided you don't touch the ground there.

2. Scoring

Only the GS and GA may shoot, and only from inside their goal circle. A goal scores one point.

Some competitions add their own scoring rules. Super Netball's two-point Super Shot is one example. It isn't part of the World Netball rules and hasn't been checked for this page.

3. Time

A match is four quarters of 15 minutes of playing time (Rule 2). The break is four minutes after the first and third quarters and 12 minutes at half-time, or eight minutes if the event organiser and both teams agree. Teams change ends every quarter.

If a team is awarded a penalty pass in its attacking goal circle before the end-of-quarter signal, the pass is still taken.

Play starts each quarter, and restarts after every goal, with a centre pass, taken alternately by each team's Centre whoever scored.

4. Getting and keeping the ball

Gaining possession

Rule 11.1 lists what you may do to get the ball. Several are often wrongly thought illegal:

a. Catch the ball with one or both hands. b. Roll the ball to oneself. c. Catch the ball if it rebounds from the goalpost. d. Bat the ball once, then catch it. e. Bounce the ball once, then catch it.

So you may roll the ball to yourself, and you may bat or bounce it once before catching it. You may not fall on the ball, or gain possession while lying, sitting or kneeling.

Once you have it

• Three seconds to pass or shoot (Rule 11.4). Holding it longer is a held ball.
• No dribbling. Once you've had the ball and released it, you can't touch it again until another player touches it, or it rebounds off the goalpost (Rule 11.6, "repossession").
• The ball must be touched in each third. A throw that crosses a whole third without being touched is over a third.

5. Footwork

The foot you land on is your landing foot (Rule 13). Having caught the ball landing on one foot, you may:

• step with the other foot in any direction, and lift the landing foot, as long as you pass or shoot before putting it down again;
• pivot on the landing foot, stepping with the other foot as many times as you like;
• jump from the landing foot onto the other foot and jump again, releasing the ball before either foot lands.

Catch the ball on both feet and similar rules apply, with either foot able to act as the pivot.

Lifting the landing foot is legal. Putting it back down before the ball is gone is stepping.

6. Obstruction

A defender may try to intercept or defend a player with the ball only from at least 0.9 metres away, measured on the ground:

from the nearest part of the landing foot of the player with the ball to the nearest part of the opposing player's nearer foot in contact with the ground.

Arms and bodies may be closer; it's the feet that are measured. That's why netball defenders look further away than they are. And:

• If the player with the ball pivots, the defender must adjust to the landing foot's new position.
• A defender at the right distance may jump towards the player and land within 0.9 metres, provided they don't interfere with the pass or shot.
• If the player with the ball moves closer, the defender isn't penalised.

Lifting a defender

The 2024 rules explicitly allow a defender to defend while being lifted by a teammate (Rule 16), provided the 0.9 metres is kept between the landing foot and the nearer grounded foot of either defender.

7. Contact

Netball isn't a no-contact game. Rule 17 penalises contact only when it interferes with an opponent, including by:

• pushing, tripping, grabbing, holding or leaning on them
• knocking or hitting them, including when they shoot
• putting hands on a ball an opponent is holding

and only if it results in the opponent losing the ball, having their pass or shot interfered with, or having their body position changed so that they are unfairly disadvantaged.

Incidental physical contact between opposing players in attacking, defending or playing the ball which does not cause interference ... will be deemed fair contest, and should not be penalised.

A player who has jumped must be allowed to land, in the same place or elsewhere. But an attacker mustn't deliberately jump into a stationary opponent when catching the ball.

8. Penalties

• Free pass for technical infringements such as offside, held ball, stepping or over a third.
• Penalty pass for obstruction and contact. The infringer must stand out of play: move to the position shown, beside but away from the thrower, and take no part in play until the ball is released.

A GS or GA taking a penalty pass inside the goal circle may pass or shoot.

Commonly argued

• You may roll the ball to yourself, and bat or bounce it once, to gain possession. What you can't do is play it again after releasing it.
• You can lift your landing foot, as long as the ball is gone before you put it back down.
• Three seconds, from catching to releasing.
• 0.9 metres is measured between feet on the ground, from the landing foot.
• Defenders may be lifted by a teammate under the 2024 rules.
• Incidental contact isn't a penalty. Only contact that interferes is.
• Offside applies without the ball, but standing on the line is fine.
• Only GS and GA can score, and only from inside the circle.
• Centre passes alternate, whoever scored.

Where this comes from

World Netball, Rules of Netball 2024 Edition, downloaded from World Netball's site. National associations such as Netball Australia may add their own variations for local and junior play, and professional leagues their own competition rules. Those haven't been checked.

Where this entry and the rules disagree, the rules win. Tell us.