OUR HISTORY

Northvale Netball Club History: 1975 – present

The Northvale Netball Club was formed in 1975 from a small community of players from the Springvale and Mulgrave areas consisting of just 38 players. Northvale was represented by teams in the Waverley City Netball competition at the Waverley Women’s Sports Centre courts at Jells Park in Wheelers Hill and quickly grew to become a strong, successful and highly competitive club.

The original Northvale emblem of a swan holding all sporting equipment was to represent the four sports being netball, football, junior and senior cricket and softball. After seeking a liquor licensing agreement, the junior football club became an incorporated body of their own, however they proudly continued to represent Northvale in the red and white with the swan emblem in the Waverley Junior Football Association. The Football Club participated in its final season of competition in 2018. The Senior Cricket club amalgamated with the Mulgrave Country Cricket Club due to numbers and as of January 2007 the Softball Club also decided to incorporate on their own, with a home base at Waverley Women’s Sports Centre. As the Northvale Junior Sports Club was closed at the end of 2006, in January 2007 the Northvale Netball Club became an incorporated body on their own. Our home ground remained at Mackie Road in Mulgrave at the time with the club rooms proudly displaying the club’s history of debutante balls, elite sporting players who once represented Northvale, Premiership team photos, flags presented to the club over many years and old trophies presented throughout the club’s history. Today our club is represented by 17 teams and a registration of over 140 members, all of whom compete in Waverley Night Netball Association competitions at Waverley Netball Centre (Jells Park) in Wheelers Hill. Our home base has moved from Mackie Road to Waverley Netball Centre to accommodate our growing numbers and training requirements. Northvale Netball Club prides itself on being a family orientated club, with an exceptional reputation for quality coaching and development of all players. It is this reputation that now attracts junior players from surrounding areas to represent our wonderful club, which has been the junior club for many State and National league players, including Australian representative Nicole Richardson. Our commitment to providing high performance/development programs, qualified and professional coaches contribute to our club having wonderful success with a high number of Northvale players in both junior & 17/under age groups being selected for representative squads.

Northvale Team Names

As the Northvale Junior Sports Club emblem is of a swan, all teams were originally named after birds in tradition which continues today. Our top open team is named Swans as per the original emblem of a swan. Our second Open team is named S.P’s, after a former player, Susan Puhotoua, who died tragically in 1990. After her death, Susan’s family donated a trophy in her memory and the club decided to honor her and name her former playing team S.P’s.