Derived from basketball and developed by teenagers in late-Victorian England, netball is sport's great misunderstood "girly game". It could be heading to the Olympics in 2032.

Derived from basketball and developed by teenagers in late-Victorian England, netball is sport's great misunderstood "girly game". A hotbed of feminist rebellion, its corset-shattering, myth-busting history encompasses a journey of emancipation, imagination, and healthy disdain for patriarchal expectations. Netball is one of the Commonwealth Games' great sports, and Glasgow 2026 will thrust it into the spotlight again: sinew-stretching athleticism, pinpoint shooting, frantic end-to-end pace. British rap superstar Stormzy ripped ligaments in his fingers, external the first time he played netball. Underestimate the physical demands, external of this non-contact sport at your peril. But netball's leaders have an even greater platform than the Commonwealth Games in mind, not least because doubts linger over the long-term future of that event. If ambitious efforts come to fruition, netball will be rewarded with an Olympic Games debut at Brisbane 2032, "future-proofing" it for future generations. So yes, that sport you played in the school playground was slyly, quietly revolutionary. But the suffragist Swede who pioneered netball in England was anything but quiet.