later netball debuted at the 1998 commonwealth games in kuala lumpur. other international competitions also emerged in the late 20th century, including the nations cup and the asian netball championship. sex category the sport was created for girls and women and remains most popular among this demographic, with women's netball at elite and national levels receiving outside funding. though male netball teams exist in some areas, men's and mixed-sex teams are largely self-funded. men's netball started to grow in australia during the 1980s, with the first men's championship being held in 1985. other countries with men's national teams include canada, fiji, jamaica, kenya, pakistan and the united arab emirates. other men and women play together during a mixed netball game in australia. in 2004, new zealand and fiji sent teams to compete in the australian mixed and men's national championships. by 2006, mixed netball teams in australia had as many male participants as rugby union. an all-transgender netball team from indonesia competed at the 1994 gay games in new york city. the team had been the indonesian national champions. at the gay games vi in sydney in 2000, netball and volleyball were the two sports with the highest rates of transgender athletes participating. there were eight teams of indigenous players, with seven identifying as transgender. they came from places like palm island in northern queensland, samoa, tonga and papua new guinea. teams with transgender players were allowed to participate in several divisions including men's, mixed and transgender; they were not allowed to compete against women's teams. variants indoor netball indoor netball is a variation of netball, played exclusively indoors, in which the playing court is often surrounded on each side and overhead by a net. the net prevents the ball from leaving the court, permitting faster play by reducing playing stoppages. different forms of indoor netball exist. in a seven-per-side version called "action netball", seven players per team play with rules similar to netball. however, a game is split into 15-minute halves with a three-minute break in between. this version is played in australia, new zealand, south africa and england. a six-per-side version of the sport is also played in new zealand. two centres per team can play in the whole court except the shooting circles; the remaining attacking and defending players are each restricted to one half of the court, including the shooting circles. the attacking and centre players may shoot from outside the shooting circle for a two-point goal. a five-per-side game is also common in indoor netball. players can move throughout the court, with the exception of the shooting circles, which are restricted to certain attacking or defending players. fast5 fast5 (originally called fastnet) is a variation on the rules of netball designed to make games faster and more television-friendly. the world netball series promotes it to raise the sport's profile and attract more spectators and greater sponsorship. the game is much shorter, with each quarter lasting only six minutes and only a two-minute break between quarters. the coaches can give instructions from the sideline during play, and unlimited substitutions are allowed. like six-per-side indoor netball, attacking players may shoot two-point goals from outside the shooting circle. each team can separately nominate one "power play" quarter, in which each goal scored by that team is worth double points and the centre pass is taken by the team that conceded the goal. for children children playing netball in south africa netball has been adapted in several ways to meet children's needs. the rules for children are similar to those for adults, but various aspects of the game (such as the length of each quarter, goal height, and ball size) are modified. fun net is a version of netball developed by netball australia for five- to seven-year-olds. it aims to improve basic netball skills using games and activities. the fun net program runs for 8–16 weeks. there are no winners or losers. the goal posts are 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) high, and a smaller ball is used. netball australia also runs a modified game called netta aimed at 8- to 11-year-olds. the goal height and ball size are the same as for adults, but players rotate positions during the game, permitting each player to play each position. netta was created to develop passing and catching skills. its rules permit six seconds between catching and passing the ball, instead of the three seconds permitted in the adult game. most players under 11 play this version at netball clubs. a version called high five netball is promoted by the all england netball association. it is aimed at 9- to 11-year-old girls and includes only five positions. the players swap positions during the game. when a player is not on the court, she is expected to help the game in some other way, such as being the timekeeper or scorekeeper. high five netball has four six-minute quarters. governance the recognised international governing body of netball is world netball, based in manchester, england. founded in 1960, the organisation was initially called the international federation of netball and women's basketball. the inf is responsible for compiling world rankings for national teams, maintaining the rules for netball and organising several major international competitions. as of july 2019, the inf has 53 full and 19 associate national members in five regions. each region has an inf regional federation. inf regionregional federation africaconfederation of african netball associations americasamericas federation of netball associations asianetball asia europenetball europe oceaniaoceania netball federation the inf is affiliated with the general association of international sports federations, the international world games association and the association of ioc recognised international sports federations. it is also a signatory to the world anti-doping code. netball in canada netball was introduced to canada in the early 1960s, a period when the organization of civic, municipal, and community recreational sports programs was a new emerging field. the first time organized netball games are known to have taken place in canada dates back to montréal, quebec, in 1962. netball held its first international competition a year later in 1963, now called the "netball world cup", in eastbourne, england. the ontario amateur netball association, now known as "netball ontario" (nbo), was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization on august 9, 1974. the first national canadian netball championship was held in 1975 and is now known as the netball canada national championships. today, netball in canada is mainly played in québec, ontario, alberta and british columbia. in 1996, canada hosted the third world youth netball championships, which is now known as the netball world youth cup. canada national netball team the canada national netball team was eventually established in canada. international competition a pass takes place during a women's netball game in fiji. netball is a popular participant sport in countries of the commonwealth of nations. non-commonwealth entities with full ifna membership include switzerland, taiwan, thailand, argentina, bermuda, the cayman islands and the united states, along with former commonwealth members zimbabwe, ireland and hong kong. according to the ifna, over 20 million people play netball in more than 80 countries. international tournaments are held among countries in each of the five ifna regions, either annually or every four years. school leagues and national club competitions have been organised in england, australia, new zealand and jamaica since the early twentieth century. franchise-based netball leagues did not emerge until the late 1990s. these competitions sought to increase the profile of the sport in their respective countries. despite widespread local interest, participation was largely amateur. netball was first included in the 1998 commonwealth games and has been included ever since; it is currently one of the "core" sports that must be contested at each edition of the games. the confederation of african netball associations organises a major african tournament, which invites teams from botswana, namibia, zambia, malawi, south africa, kenya, lesotho, eswatini, zimbabwe and the seychelles to take part. the tournament is hosted by a country within the region; senior and under 21 teams compete. the tournament has served as a qualifier for the world championships. south africa launched a new domestic competition in 2011 called netball grand series. it features eight regional teams from south africa and is aimed at increasing the amount of playing time for players. it runs for 17 weeks and replaces the national netball league, which was played over only two weeks. according to proteas captain elsje jordaan, it was hoped that the competition would create an opportunity for players to become professional. erin bell from the new south wales swifts (red) prepares to shoot for a goal against the melbourne vixens. the americas federation of netball associations (afna) hosts two tournaments each year: the caribbean netball association (cna) under 16 championship and the afna senior championship. the cna championship involves two divisions of teams from the caribbean islands. in 2010 five teams competed in two rounds of round robin matches in the championship division, while four teams competed in the developmental division. jamaica, which has lost only once in the tournament, decided not to play the 2011 tournament. the afna senior championship includes canada and the us along with the caribbean nations. the tournament serves as a qualifier for the world championship. jamaica, with its high ranking, does not have to qualify; this leaves two spots to the other teams in the tournament. the asian netball championship is held every four years. the seventh asian games were held in 2009 and featured singapore, thailand, maldives, taiwan, malaysia, sri lanka, hong kong, india and pakistan. there is also an asian youth netball championship for girls under 21 years of age, the seventh of which was held in 2010. the major netball competition in europe is the netball superleague, which features teams from england, wales and scotland. the league was created in 2005. matches are broadcast on sky sports. netball has been featured at the pacific games, a multi-sport event with participation from 22 countries from around the south pacific. the event is held every four years and has 12 required sports; the host country chooses the other four. netball is not a required sport and has missed selection, particularly when former french or american territories host the games. the anz championship was a trans-tasman competition held between 2008 and 2016 that was broadcast on television in both new zealand and australia. it was contested among ten teams from australia and new zealand. it began in april 2008, succeeding australia's commonwealth bank trophy and new zealand's national bank cup as the pre-eminent netball league in those countries. the competition was held annually between april and july, consisting of 69 matches played over 17 weeks. the anz championship saw netball become a semi-professional sport in both countries, with increased media coverage and player salaries. the competition was replaced by new leagues in 2017, the suncorp super netball (australia) and anz premiership (new zealand). major championships there are four major international netball competitions; the netball world cup, netball at the commonwealth games, netball quad series and fast5 netball world series. netball is also played at large regional multi-sport events such as the southeast asian games. netball's important competition is the world netball championships (also known as the netball world cup), held every four years. it was first held in 1963 at the chelsea college of physical education at eastbourne, england, with eleven nations competing. since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the australian and new zealand teams, which hold ten and four titles, respectively. trinidad and tobago is the only other team to win a championship title. that title, won in 1979, was shared with new zealand and australia; all three teams finished with equal points at the end of the round robin, and there were no finals. the fast5 series is a competition among the top six national netball teams, as ranked by the inf world rankings. it is organised by the inf in conjunction with the national governing bodies of the six competing nations, uk sport, and the host city's local council. the all england netball association covers air travel, accommodation, food and local travel expenses for all teams, while the respective netball governing bodies cover player allowances. it is held over three days, with each team playing each other once during the first