She’s the first dame of New Zealand netball – a remarkable and passionate figure who still, at the grand age of 88, will absolutely talk your ear off about all things netball.
But while life has taken on a slightly slower pace for Dame Lois Muir since a second battle with breast cancer, come hell or high water, she’ll be tuning in to every single minute of the Silver Ferns’ fight to defend their Netball World Cup crown this month.
“I had breast cancer about 25 years ago and the wretched stuff came back and got me again last year,” Lois – she will not have you call her Dame Lois – tells the Weekly. “I only had one boob to lose, so that’s gone now. But I’ve recovered and I’m bouncing around. Well, bouncing’s probably a bit too far! But all is well.”
She quickly dismisses any ounce of pity or concern – “Oh, I’m absolutely fine, no fuss!” – and apart from being a little bit wearier of catching bugs, life is as it’s always been.
“You never think you’re smart with cancer,” she adds. “I always dread when I hear someone say ‘I’m cured’. But it’s all in how you handle it.
“The surgeon was great and even me, at 86 or something, I went in on a Friday and was at home on the Sunday. I didn’t even have time to feel sorry for myself, so that was good.
“My mother and my sister both had breast cancer, so because of that, I got it early the first time and decided to get the whole breast off – no mucking around, you know – so anyway, here I am!”
Still living independently in her beloved Dunedin home, Lois is still whip smart and refreshingly forthright. A widow for the past 19 years, the mum-of-three sons keeps herself busy – she only stopped working at the local pharmacy just before Covid – and relishes a good chat about netball.
“I played my first-ever national tournament in 1949,” she reflects before adding, “Hmmm. That probably dates me a little bit, doesn’t it? Just a smidge.
“People always used to come up to me and say, ‘You played with my mum!’ And then it was, ‘You played with my grandmother!’ And now it’s, ‘Oh, they’re not here any more.’ Anyway, such is old age!”
Growing up in Southland, sport was “just the thing” you did, says Lois, who was born in 1935. She eventually went on to represent New Zealand not just as a Silver Fern, but also at basketball, becoming one of Aotearoa’s first dual internationals.
Suffice to say, netball has changed a great deal since she first pulled on a bib in the 1940s!
“When I started playing, it was still nine-a-side and there were six of us in the goal circle,” tells Lois. “But the fundamentals of the game haven’t changed – I always say the skills of the game should win.
“The uniforms have definitely changed – when I was playing it was pinafores! Then, of course, we went to the pleated skirts and now they’re the dresses. And netball has certainly got a lot more competitive.”
Lois (fifth from the left) performs a haka with the Silver Ferns.
Lois has been involved with netball in New Zealand for decades – from her Silver Fern debut in 1960, through to her last years as coach of the national side in 1987, where she ended on a high with the team securing a gold medal at that year’s World Championships.
She’s such a stalwart of the game, her famed, never-changing white ponytail is as synonymous with netball in New Zealand as the little black dress itself.
When former Ferns coach Janine Southby quit in 2018 following some disappointing results for the team, Lois says she had floods of people approaching her in the supermarket asking her – then aged 85 – if she’d come back and “sort the team out”. (“Absolutely bloody not!” was her somewhat indignant reply).
“I’ve only missed three World Cups,” she reveals proudly. “I didn’t go in 1967 or 1971 because I was having my children, and I didn’t make it to the 2019 Liverpool games – I just thought it would be a bit hard at my age. Of course, I won’t be going over to South Africa this year either!”
Kiwi netballers’ goal is to win Lois’ Supreme Award.
Lois still remembers her first – and the first-ever – World Championships as clear as day. It took the Ferns five weeks to get to England by boat in 1963.
“It was quite the trip,” she remembers. “We went through the Panama Canal. Five weeks, can you imagine? We lost the final to Australia by one goal. It made me realise that there’s nothing worse than an Australian playing well and knowing it. It’s still true!
“I carried that with me all through my coaching career – it was a good learning curve.”
It was when she took up the mantle of Silver Ferns coach where Lois’ legendary reputation truly began, beginning in 1974 and ending in 1988.
During that time, the Silver Ferns claimed two World Championship titles – a shared gold with Australia and Trinidad and Tobago in 1979 (it was a round robin format), and her personal highlight, an outright win in Glasgow in 1987.
“I walked around on air for quite a long time after that,” she recalls fondly. “It was marvellous. No team got within 10 points of us.”
Since retiring from coaching – finishing with an impressive 85 percent-win record – Lois confirms netball is still her great passion.
Passing on some sage advice to the Otago Rebels in 2005.
“I get excited watching the domestic games,” she enthuses. “Women’s sport is so different now. Did you know we didn’t have trainers at all when I was coaching? I was doing all the fitness! But yes, netball is just a brilliant game, isn’t it? And I’m so excited about this World Cup.”
Lois believes the Silver Ferns have a great chance of defending their title this year, but thinks it’s never been a more competitive field with the likes of England and Jamaica, and of course our old rivals Australia.
“There’s been a lot of growth,” she muses. “Other countries have invested a lot more, which is great, and the style of the Caribbean play is such a different formula – they’re spontaneous. If they get a sniff of a win, you’re in trouble.
“I also think that this tournament will be good for South Africa – it’s good for the country. And I think we’ll do well. And who knows, maybe it will be a New Zealand vs Australia final!”
