CLUB HISTORY

Shore Rovers Netball Club is the oldest club on the North Shore originally playing under the name of “El-Jay” for 1 season before changing its name to Shore Rovers Netball Club. At that time (1952) there was no North Harbour competition, the girls had to cross the bridge to play in Auckland. When netball competition started on the Shore, the Shore Rovers team moved from Auckland to help establish the competition, this was in 1953.

The Club started with just one team and has grown to the current day with on average 15 teams per season, making it the oldest and largest club on the shore. A member of that original team, Fay Chapman, still comes down to the courts on a Saturday to watch our teams play. Fay is also our Club Patron. 

The name El-Jay came because the founding ladies worked at El-Jay Foundation which was a fashion factory in Milford circa 1591/1952. When the boss found the girls playing basketball at lunchtime he had a chat to them about using some leftover material to make some uniforms... thats where the green and yellow came from.

They changed the name to Shore Rovers the following year when they joined the brand new centre at North Harbour in 1953, this was due to people thinking they had to work at El-Jay to be able to play for them.

Gus Fisher (the owner of El-Jay) was the New Zealand licensee for Christian Dior, which gave him the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell Christian Dior originals and Christian Dior prêt-à-porter in the New Zealand market.

Fascinating! Find out more about that here click here 

With the advent of the National Club Competition in the 80’s, only the top Club team in a region was able to challenge for a place in the National League. Shore Rovers sat in the shadow of Carmel for a number of years until the Club finally worked its way to the top and challenged and beat Carmel for its place in the league in 1989.  In 1994 the Club was ranked 3rd and gained a very high profile within the media, both television and newsprint. In the period 1994 – 1995, Shore Rovers consistently achieved a top four placing and came 2nd in both 1996 & 1997.

In 1998, the new Regional Franchise competition was formed.  This tipped out all top players from Club teams throughout NZ to go into the Regional Franchised Teams. This effectively wiped out Shore Rovers Team 1 as Rovers were at that time the top team in NNH.

From 1998 - 2003 the top Shore Rovers team was a social (non-training) team of ex-Rep players who decided to step away from Regional competition and play only at Club level. This team has seen the Club proud by consistently being in the top three at Netball North Harbour. The Shore Rovers Team Red retired in 2006.

Over the years we've had some great Premier coaches; Yvonne Willering, Margaret Burgess, Natalie Milicich, Bella Panoho, Helene Wilson,  Ripeka Pirie, Lisa Foster & now Fale Malifa.

Shore Rovers 1 won the Premier 1 competition in 2015 and 2013 and our 2nd team have spent the past few years in and out of premier 1. The development teams in recent years have had great success in preparing our younger players for the journey into premier netball. Currently we have 4 players in our top 2 teams (playing premier 1) that have come from our Development teams. We are proud of the loyalty that exists throughout our teams, most of our team 1 players have been with the club for over 5 years. 

You can see more about our grade placings under the "club awards and recognitions' page.

The Club has been under the guidance of President, Kelly Cameron for 11 years (taking over from Bella Panoho in 2013).  Kelly received her 20 year loyalty badge in 2016 and has held numerous roles such as Secretary, VP and Coaching Coordinator. The club is a well run unit due to it's great committee featuring members like Renee Fougere (16 yrs), Stephanie Justice (18 years), Rachel Foster (16 yrs), Saskia Van Loggerenberg (10 years). See our club awards page for our member loyalty/service list. 

Shore Rovers Netball Club mourn the loss of Tania Dalton. A sportswoman, volunteer, friend, wife and mum who was a valued and loved member of our club for 12 years.  
Click here to visit The Tania Dalton Foundation Facebook page