English-born Bradshaw, 69, of Rossmore, has turned out to be one the more prominent figures in netball throughout Liverpool's rural communities.

He arrived in Australia 46 years ago and has become somewhat of a pioneer for men in a female-dominated netball community.

Bradshaw has paved the way for men to coach and umpire the sport.

For more than 30 years Bradshaw has coached, run netball clubs and umpired.

"I have four girls and my late wife Sandra was the one who got me involved in the sport," he said.

"I would go along to watch my daughters play netball then somehow I got involved coaching and then helped organise things at clubs then started umpiring.

"My daughters are adults now and two of them still play. I still umpire one or two matches as Bringelly's representative every Saturday in the Camden & District Netball Association at Kirkham Park.

"Before my time at Bringelly, I was with the Austral Sports Club netball teams for many years.

"I would be down at the netball courts on Saturdays from 8am until the last games were played in the Campbelltown association."

Bradshaw said the Austral Sports Club had a "golden period" when they had netball, soccer, cricket and softball teams.

Today, Austral Soccer Club is thriving at W V Scott Memorial Park, playing in the Southern Districts Soccer Football Association, and has more than 600 players.

Austral Netball Club still plays in the Campbelltown association.

"We had four sporting clubs under our banner at Austral Sports between 1990-1992," Bradshaw said.

He said umpiring a sport gave a better understanding of how the game was played.

Bringelly Sports Club Netball president Julie Sligar said Bradshaw was one of the best umpires running around.

"John has a very good knowledge of the game and he enjoys the umpiring," Sligar said.