It is with great sadness that Netball Australia acknowledges the passing of former Australian captain Pat McCarthy (nee Doherty).
McCarthy was inducted into the Netball Australia Hall of Fame in 2014 and Netball Victoria’s Team of the Century in 2000.
She was the first Australian captain to lead an Australian team overseas.
McCarthy, who only stood at 147cm tall used her speed and ingenuity on the court, is credited with revolutionising how the game is played by introducing the skill of passing on the run.
Raised in Victoria, McCarthy picked up a netball most nights of the week on her path to representing Australia.
A fiercely competitive player, the midcourter was first selected into the Australian team in 1952 – a year when McCarthy’s team was ‘non-touring’ and would instead play against teams from around the country in interstate competitions.
As captain, she made her senior debut for Australia on 11 February 1956 in a 22–12 win against Ceylon in Columbo, becoming Australian Diamond #16.
From Columbo the team travelled to England making history as the first Australian netball team to tour there.
Travelling by ship and training on the ship’s upper deck, the journey to England took six weeks.
As part of the trip McCarthy met Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.
While in the United Kingdom, the Australian team played at least 20 matches against different counties before competing against England’s national side.
McCarthy captained the Australian team to victory in their first meeting with England with Australia defeating England by three goals in front of a crowd of 8,000 people.
She was part of the committee alongside coach Lorna McConchie that rewrote the rules of netball. Their tour to England was the catalyst for the rules to become universal with Australia and England having previously played different versions of the game. It was through this committee that netball was given its name having previously been known as women’s basketball.
Upon returning home from England McCarthy retired from the sport and started her family.
McCarthy made lifelong friends through netball and regularly caught up with her former teammates.
As part of her legacy, McCarthy inspired not only children across the country but her own family to take part in netball.
A mostly instinctive player, McCarthy took on the challenge of coaching her daughter Christine’s primary school team. Christine would go on to represent Victoria in state-level netball like the daughters of many of her teammates.
Netball Australia's thoughts are with McCarthy’s family at this difficult time.
