By BRIDGET CARTER
Pregnant New Zealand netballers face being barred from Australian courts following a ban there on mothers-to-be playing.
Netball Australia imposed the ban - the first official ruling of its kind - at a meeting in Sydney on Sunday night and it will apply to more than 350,000 players at any level.
President Sue Taylor said it would shield Netball Australia from legislation (not in place in New Zealand) that allowed people to take legal action if an unborn child was hurt while they were playing.
She said it was a temporary rule until a forum was held over pregnancy and sport in the next few months.
But Ms Taylor said the issue had been brewing in Australian netball for years and the ban would not be lifted unless medical and legal experts, players and coaches at the forum agreed that playing the sport while pregnant was safe.
She believed the Australian netball court would also be off limits to international players who were pregnant, although it had not been formalised, and the punishment for those who broke the ban was yet to be decided. "If [a game] is under our control, our rules will apply," Ms Taylor said.
Former Silver Fern Tania Dalton played for R'toto Force in the Coca-Cola Cup this year while pregnant. She said playing netball when pregnant should be a personal choice.
"I played for up to five months," Dalton said.
"Some people may think that is pushing it, but my doctor said there was no reason why I should not play."
Netball: Australia drives pregnant players from the court
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