New Zealander · Invercargill, New Zealand · Born 9 May 1973New Zealand midcourt defender who played 109 Tests, co-captained the Silver Ferns, won the 2003 World Championship and starred domestically for Southern Sting.
Lesley Rumball (née Nicol) was born on 9 May 1973 in Invercargill, New Zealand, and made her Silver Ferns debut in 1993 while playing senior club netball alongside her own mother. A wing defence of rare durability, she went on to complete degrees in physiotherapy and medicine while competing at the top level of international sport, later practising as a doctor and eventually becoming a specialist sport and exercise physician. Rumball played 109 Tests for New Zealand between 1993 and 2005, becoming the first Silver Fern to reach a century of caps, and served as co-captain of the side from 1999 to 2001 and again in 2003 and 2004. She played across three World Championships — silver in 1999, bronze in 1995, and gold on home soil against Australia in 2003 — as well as two Commonwealth Games, winning silver in both 1998 and 2002. Domestically she was a cornerstone of the all-conquering Southern Sting, winning the National Bank Cup title every year from 2000 to 2004 and captaining the side from 2003. She retired from international netball in 2005 and from the Sting in 2006, and was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 and inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
Long-serving Silver Fern midcourt defender and 109-Test international
Career Honours
- 2003 Netball World Championship gold
- 1999 World Championship silver
- 1995 World Championship bronze
- Commonwealth Games silver 1998, 2002
- ONZM 2004
New Zealander Athletes