About Our Club
Miranda Magpies Netball Club is a founding member of the “Sutherland Shire Girls’ Basketball Association” that in 1971 would become known as, the Sutherland Shire Netball Association. Miranda Magpies Girls’ Basketball existed from the late 1950’s as an affiliate of the Miranda Magpies’ Sports Club.
In 1960 when uniforms consisted of box pleats and silk cords; when length was defined by a measurement achieved on kneeling from the ground to a height designated above the knee; scungies were bloomers; hair clips were banned but bobby pins were acceptable; balls had laces and guts; and Dunlop volleys were the general mode of footwear; women and girls in Sutherland achieved a ruling sporting body of their own and Miranda Magpies were at the forefront of this historic time in women’s sport in The Shire.
As a large founding club of the association, many greats of the sport who still contribute to netball today, were members of Magpies. Counted amongst the Magpies’ Executive were:
Margaret Corbett OAM:
Level 3 Coach, NSW State Coach, NSWIS Head Coach, CBT Coach Sydney Sandpipers, Australian Underage Selector, SSNA Coaching Co-Ordinator, SSNA Life Member
Margaret Burke OAM:
Treasurer of the SSNA, SSNA Life Member
Lisa Beehag OAM:
Australian player, Australian assistant coach, NSWIS Head Coach, Coach Singapore National Team, 2012 NSW Swifts’ Coach, Netball Hall of Fame Inductee, SSNA Life Member
Robyn Aitkin:
National A Umpire, Umpire’s Convenor SSNA and State League Manager
Margaret Beehag:
Former President of the SSNA, Marj Groves Award winner
Ronda Kimble:
AA National Umpire, Executive Netball NSW and Executive Netball Australia
Miranda Magpies have been a driving force in netball in The Shire, many of the changes implemented within the constitution of the now SSNA were drafted by Miranda Magpies’ and its fellow founding netball clubs. Many of those rules and guidelines still exist in the constitution today. In the mid 1960’s Miranda Magpies through its Sports Club raised the funds to build a clubhouse and canteen at Seymour Shaw Park. This building would later be extended by Sutherland Shire Council to incorporate the toilet block which today houses the SSNA canteen and control.
Magpies have been there to witness the evolution of women’s sport in The Shire. The march pasts are long gone, as are the handwritten notes excusing absence from grading and the hand typed, carbon copied minutes that faithfully reproduced every spoken word at a meeting. No longer are you handed a paper pattern and yards of fabric from which to make your uniform and blazer. Demographics change, clubs grow and shrink with the changing tide of the population, many no longer exist and many fight to hold on. Magpies have weathered the storm of change often, numbers are depleted, grades diminish, new codes threaten the sport, but history has shown us to be a strong club that works through the tough years. We realize that it is about nurturing our Sutherland players, encouraging sportsmanship and fair play, building friendships and working together with our fellow clubs to provide every player and umpire with a pathway. It is looking to the future and drawing on the past.
Magpies have come a long way in sixty years. We have our own umpiring program with more than twenty national badged umpires including one AA and numerous National A’s. We run our own coaching, umpiring, and skills and drills clinics; we register over forty teams from Modified through Senior including many senior “A” grade teams; and we have a nursery program for up and coming under 7’s to learn the basics in preparation for competition. We were a driving force in bringing mixed teams to the summer night competition and every year we register large numbers of teams to this competition.
Magpies are grateful for those who went before us and led the way, those players, coaches, umpires and committee, who worked tirelessly to make sure that the sport existed for all who wished to play, and for those who still today lend a hand, ensuring that there is a future for Mapgies and the SSNA.