Billie Irwin

Billie Irwin
Personal information
Born(1942-05-10)10 May 1942
Died4 May 2025(2025-05-04) (aged 82)
Netball career
Years Club team Apps

Billie Irwin (1942–2025) was a former New Zealand netball international. She was a member of the New Zealand team at the 1967 World Netball Tournament, when New Zealand won the tournament for the first time.

Netball career

Billie Irwin was born on 10 May 1942. She played netball for Rotorua, as one of a formidable defensive pairing with Tilly Vercoe, which was known as "Billie and Tilly". The coach of Rotorua was Taini Jamison and she picked the pair to be in the national team when she became its head coach. Beating Australia 40–34 in its final match, New Zealand won the 1967 World Netball Tournament, its first win in the world championships. Irwin and Vercoe came to be known as "The Black Wall", because of their defence and the colours worn by the team.

The 1967 World Netball Tournament team was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Death

Irwin died on 4 May 2025.

References

  1. ↑ "When they were Queens – the 1967 world champion Silver Ferns reunite". locker room. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  2. ↑ "Billie Irwin". Silver Ferns.
  3. ↑ "Celebrating 50 years: New Zealand wins GOLD for the first time". Silver Ferns. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  4. ↑ "Rotorua Netballers 60s–70s New Zealand Netball Team 1967". Facebook. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  5. ↑ "Netball, 1967". New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  6. ↑ "Billie IRWIN Obituary". Legacy.com. Retrieved 6 September 2025.