Impact Story

The Marie Little Shield: A National Pathway in Netball

From three teams to all eight states and territories, the Marie Little Shield has grown into Australian netball’s premier national competition for women with an intellectual disability. Discover the history behind the Shield, how the competition was rebuilt and the pathway it creates for athletes today.

Each year, some of Australia’s best netballers with an intellectual disability pull on their state and territory colours to compete at the Marie Little Shield.

It is Australian netball’s premier national competition for women with an intellectual disability, bringing together representative teams from across the country.

Across three days of competition, teams battle it out for the national title. Today, every Australian state and territory is represented — but getting there has been a journey decades in the making.

Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Western Australia and Northern Territory teams gathered together at the Marie Little Shield 2017.

The Beginnings of the Competition

The foundations were laid decades earlier through Marie Little’s work to create opportunities for women with an intellectual disability to play netball in South Australia.

In 1979, a pilot netball program was established at a suburban South Australian netball club. From there came a Sunday competition at the State Netball courts, before six teams of players with an intellectual disability joined regular State Netball competition.

The idea began to spread beyond South Australia.

In 1985, the first National Carnival for netballers with an intellectual disability was held in Queensland alongside the National Under 19 Championships — creating a national representative opportunity within the broader netball system.

But that pathway did not continue uninterrupted.

By the mid-1990s, the national competition had ceased. Sport Inclusion Australia advocated for its return and worked alongside the netball community to rebuild the event.

That meant bringing people together, encouraging states to develop representative teams and supporting the athlete eligibility processes required for national competition.

In 2012, the competition returned as the All Abilities State Representative Netball Carnival, fittingly held in Adelaide, South Australia, where Marie’s work to create opportunities for women with an intellectual disability in netball had begun.

Victoria took home the national title.

A year later, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia took the court as the competition was renamed the Marie Little Shield in recognition of Marie Little OAM and her contribution to netball and sporting opportunities for people with an intellectual disability.

Victoria again emerged victorious.

Marie was there to see the competition carrying her name and witness what decades of advocacy and work alongside the netball community had helped make possible.

[🎥Watch: Marie Little at the 2013 Marie Little Shield hosted by Netball NSW]

Victoria vs Queensland at the Marie Little Shield 2017

Victoria vs Queensland on the court at the Marie Little Shield 2017.

From Three Teams to Eight

From those three teams, the Shield began to grow.

Over the following decade, more state and territory netball organisations established representative teams and programs, creating opportunities for more athletes to pursue state selection and national competition.

Western Australia and Queensland joined the Shield in 2016, expanding the national field from three teams to five.

The Northern Territory followed in 2017, taking the competition to six teams.

In 2018, the Shield headed to Brisbane, where competition was played at the Boondall Entertainment Centre. The South Australian Rubies claimed the national title, adding another chapter to South Australia’s long history in the competition.

The Australian Capital Territory made its debut in 2019, bringing seven states and territories into the Shield.

Like so much Australian sport, the competition was then interrupted by COVID-19. The 2020 and 2021 Marie Little Shields were unable to go ahead.

After two years away, the competition returned at Netball Central in Sydney Olympic Park in October 2022. Seven teams took the court, with New South Wales claiming the Shield on home soil.

[🎥Watch: ABC News reports on the Marie Little Shield’s return]

Then came another significant milestone. Tasmania made its Marie Little Shield debut at Nissan Arena in Brisbane in 2024, completing the national field.

For the first time, athletes from every Australian state and territory took the court at the Marie Little Shield.

Robyn Smith, Sport Inclusion Australia CEO presents medal to South Australian netballer at the 2016 Marie Little Shield.

Robyn Smith, Sport Inclusion Australia CEO at the time, presents medal to South Australian netballer at the 2016 Marie Little Shield.

A National Netball Pathway

Behind that growth is more than a three-day tournament.

Netball Australia leads the national competition, while state and territory netball organisations select teams, develop players and create the representative programs that make competing at the Shield possible.

Sport Inclusion Australia continues to work alongside the sport, including supporting athlete eligibility and sharing its expertise in pathways for athletes with an intellectual impairment.

A national championship gives athletes something tangible to pursue: selection, state representation and the opportunity to test themselves against players from across the country.

And the strength of that national competition is connected to what happens beneath it — community programs, clubs and local competitions where athletes can first discover netball, develop their game and take the next step.

The Marie Little Shield now sits at the top of that national representative pathway in Australia for women with an intellectual disability.

The next chapter belongs to the players taking the court.

[💡Discover: Read Netball Australia’s story on why the Marie Little Shield means so much to its players]