"If you want something you’ve never had, you’ve got to be prepared to do something you’ve never done."
The noise is deafening in the small stadium, but through it all the screech of the final whistle prevails, as Anna Stanley sends the ball flying to the sky.
The Silver Ferns captain is engulfed by celebrating team-mates Irene van Dyk and Belinda Colling before charging down the court to meet the rest of the team.
Arms pump in the air, players jump on top of each other, and many hugs and tears fall to the backdrop of a boisterous Jamaican crowd, who happily adopted the Ferns as their own.
It is a picture that is imprinted in every New Zealand netball fan’s mind — the moment they created history, winning the 2003 Netball World Cup by beating great rivals Australia 49-47 in Kingston.
It was sheer jubilation for Stanley (nee Rowberry), who led her country to their first World Cup victory in 16 years, after many, many years of being runners-up.
"Quite a few of the girls in that 2003 team had suffered so many heartbreaking losses," Stanley said.
"It was just such a relief to finally actually pull together as a team and win on the world stage.
"Just joy, the exhilaration and just feeling really proud of everybody that had put into the campaign — not just the players that were there, the players that had been before us and had helped with the teams that had played prior to the Silver Ferns and then the management.
"You just feel extremely proud of what you’ve achieved once that whistle goes and you can sort of reflect on it."
There had been a lot of reflecting in the past few weeks with the team getting together for a reunion via Zoom to mark the occasion.
"It feels like a lifetime ago, really.
"We’re all married and got kids who are now not little kids. They’re big kids and they’re nearly leaving home, so that makes us feel old," she laughed.
The Silver Ferns suffered a heartbreaking run leading into the 2003 World Cup, winning bronze at the 1995 edition, silver in 1999 and silver at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games.
"There’s that old saying that you’ve got to lose a few to know how to win.
"I think for a long time we had really been really fearful of losing and I think you lose sight of actually how to win, because you’re so scared of losing.
"Because we’d gone through and suffered so much, the campaign leading up to the World Cup that year, we thought, you know, we’ve got to do something different."
And they did under the guise of coach Ruth Aiken, who repeated her philosophy — "if you want something you’ve never had, you’ve got to be prepared to do something you’ve never done" — to spur her team to victory.
Most players took time off from their fulltime jobs to train harder, increase their fitness and make sure they prepared the best they could.
They prepared for any situation, from a player being sent off to their van not arriving at games on time, leaving players confident they were in the best condition to finally get their hands on the trophy.
"There was a real shift in our mindset that we weren’t scared of losing any more and this was our time," Stanley said.
That all came to light when centre Temepara Bailey (nee Clark) was sensationally sent off for two goals in the final for repeated infringements.
It was unheard of in netball in those days, but the Silver Ferns had practised for anything, and the bench sprung into action, led by the late Tania Dalton — well known for dancing on tables and belting out Sweet Caroline — organising the bibs and rejigging for Lesley Rumball (nee Nicol) to move from wing defence to centre.
The Jamaican crowd erupted in disgust, booing at Bailey being sent off, which Bailey originally thought was aimed at her and not the umpire.
Fans spent most of the game on their feet willing the Silver Ferns across the line, a reception Stanley remembers fondly.
"It was actually nice because they were actually on our side, the Jamaicans, which was lovely.
"They love to sing, and dance, and they were on their feet and I think that just added to the atmosphere.
"Certainly when we won they had Bob Marley blaring from the tunes and R. Kelly’s The World’s Greatest, which became a bit of our theme song for the trip.
"There’s lots of little things when I hear them now, like certainly that song, it brings back a lot of memories of that campaign."
Once the celebrations wound down, and it was time to return to reality, the team disbanded with Stanley joining Colling and Jodi Brown (nee Te Huna) travelling around America and Europe, while others returned home for the ticketed parade.
She watched the celebrations online and was proud of the reception the Silver Ferns received back home.
"That was a pivotal moment in the Silver Ferns.
"There was a real shift in the excitement and the viewership and the demographic of people that even followed the Silver Ferns there after.
"We got a lot of males on board because the game had... a shift in that real physicalness.
"I think it was a real big turning point — a good turning point at the game."
Things had developed through the years, Stanley said.
Staff and players sat on white plastic deckchairs in 2003 and the final was played in a relatively small stadium, but at the core, netball was still the same.
"We were pretty professional in our attitudes and how we trained and we demanded a lot from each other. No different to what the players of this generation do. I just think they’ve got a massive amount of resources now thrown at them.
"It would be great to be a Silver Fern in this day and age, because you know it does seem like in some ways easier, but in some ways tougher, because you know they’re playing a lot more test matches throughout the year than we did you could argue and lots of changes.
"At the heart and soul of it, we’re all a group of passionate netballers that want to be the best and there’s no doubt about it — the team in 2003 would’ve trained and put in just as much as the team today."
That passion remained clear among the 2003 team with nine of the squad having picked up the microphone in commentary at some stage since retiring, including Stanley, who is commentating at the World Cup starting in South Africa tomorrow.
"I guess the group of girls that were in that year are pretty keen [on] giving back to that game and I think that’s what happens when you’ve sort of been in it for so long you feel like you want to do something to be able to give back to the game that gave you so much.
"We’re just waiting for that next generation of Silver Ferns to retire so they can take over our jobs when we get too old," she laughed.
Silver Ferns
2003 squad
Anna Stanley (captain, nee Rowberry), Irene van Dyk, Belinda Colling, Tania Dalton, Jodi Brown (nee Te Huna), Temepara Bailey (nee Clark), Adine Wilson (nee Harper), Lesley Rumball (nee Nicol), Sheryl Scanlan (nee Clarke), Vilimaina Davu, Leana de Bruin (nee du Plooy), Anna Harrison (nee Scarlett)
