Perth 1967

Following on from the success of four years previous, the 2^nd World Netball Tournament took place in Perth, Australia. This time round, eight teams made the trip to the Southern Hemisphere, with some very recognisable figures in the sport making their first appearance on the world stage.

Familiar Faces

Our President, The Hon. Molly Rhone OJ CD, played for Jamaica during the event and the squad embarked on an eight week trip around the globe en route to Perth. They travelled via Mexico, Tahiti, Fiji and New Zealand before finally getting to Australia.

For the Sunshine Girls, adapting to the cold weather proved to be challenging. The tournament was played during the Australian winter with temperatures at 14 degrees Celsius, a little colder to the 32 degrees Celsius that the Jamaican players were used to.

Molly reflects on how the team kept warm during matches:

“We played in tights, with socks over the tights, then we has on our skirt and our shirt, with a warm bulky jumper over our shirt and then we had our bibs over that.

“The radio announcer was saying look at these Jamaican girls with their hands in their pockets – in between passes we would put our hands in our pockets to keep warm.”

Also making her 1^st appearance on the world stage during Perth 1967 was Australia’s Chris Burton. Chris went on to represent the Diamonds for over 10 years, and following her retirement turned to umpiring. Chris umpired at several World Championships and was a Board Member of the INF during 1999-2007. Chris was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her services to Sport and Netball in 1984.