As part of Netball New Zealand’s centenary year celebrations, we profile one of netball’s true icons – Dame Lois Muir.
This story is part of The Coffee Club Centenary Series, helping celebrate 100 years of netball in New Zealand.
Coming from a small, conservative corner of southern New Zealand did nothing to deter the impact Dame Lois Muir was to have on netball both in New Zealand and around the world.
One of the sport’s pioneers in the truest sense of the word, as a player, coach and administrator, Dame Lois’ influence has been profound. A trailblazer as a player when vice-captain of the Silver Ferns at the first World Cup in 1963, Dame Lois continued to leave a blueprint for those who followed with an unrivalled and exceptionally successful 15-year tenure as Silver Ferns coach.
That was backed up by her unstinting administrative capabilities that helped steer netball and women’s sport in general into the limelight and onto a more equal footing with their male counterparts.
Taking her place as a board member of many high-profile organisations helped Dame Lois gain leverage, expertise and respect in the business and commercial worlds, which greatly benefitted netball.
Dame Lois quickly became a household name and much-admired figure in her own country, that admiration and influence spreading far beyond New Zealand’s shores as others took up her mantle in helping promote netball on the world stage.
She coached generations of players from primary school age to the elite level with the same vigour and passion without prejudice or bias, her sole aim being focused on improving netball skills.
Dame Lois’ impact can be suitably summed up by former Silver Ferns shooting great, Irene van Dyk. When emigrating to New Zealand in 2000 and going on to become the world’s greatest shooter of her generation, van Dyk had just one wish at the time, and that was to be coached by Lois Muir.
Across the playing, coaching and administrative arenas, Dame Lois proved peerless in her relentless and selfless quest to grow netball, all done in a voluntary capacity for over 50 years.
Born in Mataura, Southland in 1935, Dame Lois attended Gore High School and then Otago Girls’ High School when the family moved to Dunedin after the death of her father.
Dame Lois first made her mark as a player. She excelled on the sports field, and in a rarity for the day, was a dual international, representing New Zealand at both basketball (1952-62) and netball. She became Silver Fern #27 when selected in the 1960 team for the historic three-Test tour to Australia.
From the outset of her international netball career, Dame Lois stamped her class as the No 1 goal defence following an outstanding run at Otago and South Island representative level. Tall for the era and strong, she remained a mainstay when re-selected in the 1963 team for her consistency and high levels of play which marked her as one of the greats at the time.
In another historic year, the Silver Ferns travelled by sea to England – a journey that took five weeks each way – for the inaugural World Cup in 1963 with the athletic Dame Lois as vice-captain. Losing to Australia by a solitary goal, she retired from playing the following year which opened the opportunity to focus fully on coaching.
Her longevity when taking over the mantle as the Silver Ferns fourth coach in 1974 led to Dame Lois becoming a household name when generations of the sport’s elite came under her wily tutelage.
The tactical side of netball had always intrigued Dame Lois and the great respect and encouragement offered by her former international coach Dixie Cockerton sparked her own coaching interest.
Working her way up the coaching ranks, Dame Lois became an institution once ensconced in the Silver Ferns role in 1974. Widely admired and highly respected for her modern approach to the game with her tactical nous and emphasis on fitness and skill levels, Dame Lois set all sorts of records when staying at the helm for the next 15 years.
With netball’s increasing popularity, the game enjoyed a growth in international exchanges during this time, Dame Lois fashioning an enviable record considering the length of her tenure while also becoming an instantly recognisable figure.
As coach of the Silver Ferns, Dame Lois was involved in four world championships, finishing third at her first attempt when the 1975 tournament was hosted in Auckland, jointly winning the title with Trinidad and Tobago and Australia in 1979, finishing runners-ups to Australia in 1983 and winning outright in 1987.
The Silver Ferns team of 1987 is considered one of New Zealand’s finest, that year winning Team of the Year while Dame Lois scooped Coach of the Year at the New Zealand Sportsman of the Year awards.
Dame Lois’s father died when she was nine-years-old which she said made her more independent and resourceful.
She coached a New Zealand selection on a tour to Tonga, Fiji and Samoa, with her three boys – a baby, a pre-schooler, and a schoolboy – at home with a Karitane nurse.
Women can do anything, she said, but if you want to have a family you can’t do it alone, crediting her husband Murray for sacrificing some of his basketball coaching for her career as an international coach.
During her time as Silver Ferns coach, Dame Lois famously coined the phrase “they’re like human backpacks” when describing perennial rivals Australia’s relentless style of defence.
At the end of her long tenure, Dame Lois finished with an excellent 85 percent success rate which included 91 wins, 10 losses and six draws from 107 test matches.
Dame Lois was awarded an OBE for services to netball in 1984 and was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2004 she was appointed a Distinguished Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit, accepting re-designation as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2009, fittingly becoming netball’s first Dame in the process.
A vibrant spirit, Dame Lois took on all facets of life with positivity and great humour, including twice battling breast cancer. First diagnosed in 1998, she had one breast removed at the time, the disease returning in 2022 when she was 87 and needing a second mastectomy.
Post-coaching, Dame Lois was often seen at games still making notes in her trusty notebook and remained an enthusiastic part of the workforce until just before the Covid pandemic struck, working at her local pharmacy in Dunedin until she was 85.
Dame Lois continued as a national selector after finishing her role as Silver Ferns coach and served on several sporting bodies, including Netball New Zealand, the Hillary Commission, the Sports Foundation, the Masters Games, NZ Academy of Sport South Island and the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.
A former Netball New Zealand President and one of the most influential and illuminating figures in the sport's history, the Dame Lois Muir Supreme Award – the highest individual accolade a New Zealand netballer can achieve – is named in her honour and presented annually at the NZ Netball Awards.
Dame Lois remains particularly proud of former players she coached, including the likes of Lyn Gunson, Leigh Gibbs, Wai Taumaunu, Tracey Fear, Margaret Forsyth and Sandra Edge, who went on to become prominent figures across the sport post their playing days while continuing her unrivalled legacy.