Timeline of women's sports in the United States the ban on the signing of women to contracts, a ban that had existed since 1952. 1992 - Manon Rhéaume, from Canada, became the first woman to play in a National Hockey League game, which also made her the first woman to play in any of the major professional North American sports leagues; she played for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the St. Louis Blues, and stopped seven of nine shots. 1993 - Sherry Davies became the first woman public address announcer in major league baseball, working for the San Francisco Giants. 1993 - USA Boxing officially lifted its ban
Sport in New Zealand has remained at the forefront of world netball for several decades. In 2008, netball in New Zealand became a semi-professional sport with the introduction of the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The sport is administered by Netball New Zealand, which registered 125,500 players in 2006. Unlike Australia, where rugby league is the dominant rugby code, rugby union is the more popular code in New Zealand. The New Zealand domestic league is semi-professional and does not enjoy a high profile. However, the Australian National Rugby League (NRL), in which New Zealand Warriors play, is becoming more popular . The New Zealand national side