 In Australia , the term women 's basketball was used to refer to both netball and basketball . During the 1950s and 1960s , a movement arose to change the Australian name of the game from women 's basketball to netball in order to avoid confusion between the two sports . The Australian Basketball Union offered to pay the costs involved to alter the name , but the netball organisation rejected the change . In 1970 , the Council of the All Australia Netball Association officially changed the name to " netball " in Australia . 
