Constellation Cup

The Constellation Cup is contested by the Australian national netball team and the New Zealand national netball team. It is awarded each year to the team that wins the most test matches between the two, excluding games played as part of multinational tournaments such as the Netball World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

The trophy cup was first publicly unveiled in August 2010. Designed and made by Australian Michael Wilson, of Michael Wilson Diamond Jewellers, to be representative of Australia and New Zealand, its name is inspired by the Southern Cross constellation which appears on both nations flags, and artists from both countries were involved in the manufacture of the cup. It consists of a 3 kilogram sterling silver cup encrusted with 101 diamonds, with a display case crafted from black maire (Nestegis cunninghamii), a wood species native to New Zealand. The display case was made by a New Zealander, Vic Matthews.

The Governors-General of Australia and New Zealand worked in partnership with Netball New Zealand and Netball Australia to develop the cup concept and create the cup itself. The Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir Anand Satyanand, stated:

New Zealand national netball team

The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represents New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern (Cyathea dealbata), which is an iconic emblem for many New Zealand sports teams. The Silver Ferns were formed in 1938 as a representative New Zealand team to tour Australia. To date, they have been one of the most dominant national netball teams in the world, along with the Australian Diamonds, and have a winning record against most other netball nations. At the end of the 2011 international netball season, the Silver Ferns were ranked second in the IFNA World Rankings.

The Silver Ferns compete annually for the Constellation Cup a home-and-away test series with Australia, and also play test matches with other major netball countries, including England and Jamaica, on a regular basis. They have competed at every World Netball Championship since its inauguration in 1963, and in every Commonwealth Games since netball's inclusion in 1998. The Silver Ferns have won the World Netball Championships four times (in 1967, 1979, 1987 and 2003). They also won the netball title at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and 2010.