Port of Spain 1979

Champions: Australia (4th title), New Zealand (2nd title), Trinidad & Tobago (1st title)

Dates: August 12 - 25, 1979

Venue: West Regional Park Complex (Outdoors)

Host City/country: Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago

Number of Teams: 19

Matches Played: 108

Number of Goals Scored: 8,526

Trinidad & Tobago, Australia and New Zealand share the title

All Tied Up

The 5th World Netball Tournament produced a historic, never-to-be-repeated result, with three teams being declared as champions.

Due to the way the draw was arranged, the top ten positioned teams played each other in a round robin format following a preliminary round. No finals were played and placements were determined via the number of points won in the round robin.

The top three sides each won eight of the nine games, each losing once to one of the other two first placed teams. New Zealand defeated Trinidad & Tobago 32-27; Trinidad & Tobago defeated Australia 40-38; and Australia defeated New Zealand 38-36.

As there was no other way for the tournament organisers to determine an outright winner, all three teams were declared champions.

This is the first and only time a team other than New Zealand or Australia has won the World title and the only time the title was shared.

New and familiar faces

Of the 19 teams who participated, ten were making their debuts at the event; including, Uganda, Barbados and Canada. This was the most teams to have made their debut at a single tournament.

Trinidad & Tobago’s Jean Pierre, played at her fifth and final tournament in this competition, making her the only player to have played in the first five World Netball Tournaments. Her coach, Lystra Lewis, was also coaching at her fifth and final tournament.

This may have been Jean’s last tournament as a player, however, it wasn’t the last time we saw her at a World Cup…