Latest news with #NSL2.0
South Wales Argus
07-07-2025
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Five things we learned from the 2025 NSL Grand Final
Their usual bench of Darcie Everitt, Sophie Kelly and Gracie Smith have an average of 18-and-a-half with the latter the youngest ever Super League player at just 16 years old. It was a statistic not lost on head coach Sam Bird as she toasted her team's first victory. 'We are fearless, if you are good enough you are going on and that showed with Gracie,' Bird said. 'Our philosophy to trust talent is paying off. 'To win the league with the youngest team shows where we can go from here. My immediate thought was we are winning this next year. This is the foundation of the team.' 2. NSL 2.0 reaches new heights With the Grand Final always tantalisingly close, the decibels inside the O2 Arena in London climbed higher and higher. They reached ear-splitting levels as the majority of fans in the Arena cheered a Pulse win. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Netball Super League (@netballsl) There was still heavy Lightning representation among the 9,326 supporters in attendance, a record for an NSL event and the biggest netball crowd in England since 2002. The ambition of moving to a Grand Final venue bigger than any before well and truly paid off. Now, the aim is to see attendances continue to increase across the board as NSL 2.0 gathers pace. Loughborough Lightning head coach Vic Burgess said: 'It's been great to see people turning up to big games, and great to see the broadcasting has opened up more opportunities for people to watch netball and get involved in it. 'To have the opportunity to play in such a big arena, the girls love it, the thrive off it and I think more of these is only better.' 3. Gibson bids farewell with fairytale ending The Grand Final was not only about the competition on the court, but also provided the chance to say goodbye to one of the NSL's longest servants in Jodie Gibson. The defender had returned to Loughborough Lightning for the 2025 season, having also represented Manchester Thunder, London Mavericks and Severn Stars across 15 years in the league. A Commonwealth gold medallist and two-time NSL winner, Gibson's career may have ended in defeat but she still believed it was the perfect final chapter of a fairytale. 'When I first stepped on a court for Northern Thunder in 2009, we were in Bury Leisure Centre where I used to do my school swimming lessons,' she said. 'There were maybe 5-600 people there, maybe less. Sixteen years later, I have just finished my career at the O2 Arena. 'I was here watching Usher recently, and now I am here playing on the court in front of all of those people, it's a dream come true.' 4. Defensive trio shine brightly There's something about threes, with London Pulse claiming all the silverware on offer this season – the NSL Super Cup, the League Leaders' Shield and the NSL trophy. Pulse's defensive trio of Halimat Adio at goal keeper, goal defender Funmi Fadoju and skipper Zara Everitt at wing defence have been crucial to their side's success. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Netball Super League (@netballsl) Losing head coach Burgess even revealed that her Lightning side were set up to try and combat the box defence that Pulse execute so well. Fadoju was named Player of the Final and produced a league-high number of interceptions, deflections and gains across the season. Adio sat one place behind Fadoju for deflections, while Pulse's defence made up the top three for pick-ups across the league. All three tasted the pain of Grand Final defeat in 2023, and that experience, as well as several years playing together, helped power them to a clinical victory on Sunday. 5. Ready for next year? With Bird already laying down the gauntlet that her team can win again next season, the fighting talk for the 2026 campaign has begun. It comes as the signing window opens for clubs on Monday, allowing them to begin negotiating re-signings and transfers. Burgess has expressed her desire to keep the Lightning squad that reached a fifth-straight Grand Final together.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Netball Super League Grand Final: Five things we learned from a record-breaking day at the O2 Arena
The 2025 Netball Super League Grand Final served up things never seen before. A first-time winner and a record crowd were just two aspects of a day at the O2 Arena that brought netball fans together for a spectacle of epic proportions. Advertisement If you weren't one of the people inside the legendary venue, here are five things you should know about London Pulse's win over Loughborough Lightning. 1. You can win something with kids None of London Pulse's players were even born when Alan Hansen uttered the immortal words 'you can't win anything with kids' in 1995. In fact, the 2025 champions had the youngest side of all eight teams in the Netball Super League this season. Their usual bench of Darcie Everitt, Sophie Kelly and Gracie Smith have an average of 18-and-a-half with the latter the youngest ever Super League player at just 16 years old. Advertisement It was a statistic not lost on head coach Sam Bird as she toasted her team's first victory. 'We are fearless, if you are good enough you are going on and that showed with Gracie,' Bird said. 'Our philosophy to trust talent is paying off. 'To win the league with the youngest team shows where we can go from here. My immediate thought was we are winning this next year. This is the foundation of the team.' 2. NSL 2.0 reaches new heights With the Grand Final always tantalisingly close, the decibels inside the O2 Arena in London climbed higher and higher. They reached ear-splitting levels as the majority of fans in the Arena cheered a Pulse win. Advertisement There was still heavy Lightning representation among the 9,326 supporters in attendance, a record for an NSL event and the biggest netball crowd in England since 2002. The ambition of moving to a Grand Final venue bigger than any before well and truly paid off. Now, the aim is to see attendances continue to increase across the board as NSL 2.0 gathers pace. Loughborough Lightning head coach Vic Burgess said: 'It's been great to see people turning up to big games, and great to see the broadcasting has opened up more opportunities for people to watch netball and get involved in it. 'To have the opportunity to play in such a big arena, the girls love it, the thrive off it and I think more of these is only better.' Advertisement 3. Gibson bids farewell with fairytale ending The Grand Final was not only about the competition on the court, but also provided the chance to say goodbye to one of the NSL's longest servants in Jodie Gibson. The defender had returned to Loughborough Lightning for the 2025 season, having also represented Manchester Thunder, London Mavericks and Severn Stars across 15 years in the league. A Commonwealth gold medallist and two-time NSL winner, Gibson's career may have ended in defeat but she still believed it was the perfect final chapter of a fairytale. 'When I first stepped on a court for Northern Thunder in 2009, we were in Bury Leisure Centre where I used to do my school swimming lessons,' she said. Advertisement 'There were maybe 5-600 people there, maybe less. Sixteen years later, I have just finished my career at the O2 Arena. 'I was here watching Usher recently, and now I am here playing on the court in front of all of those people, it's a dream come true.' 4. Defensive trio shine brightly There's something about threes, with London Pulse claiming all the silverware on offer this season – the NSL Super Cup, the League Leaders' Shield and the NSL trophy. Pulse's defensive trio of Halimat Adio at goal keeper, goal defender Funmi Fadoju and skipper Zara Everitt at wing defence have been crucial to their side's success. Advertisement Losing head coach Burgess even revealed that her Lightning side were set up to try and combat the box defence that Pulse execute so well. Fadoju was named Player of the Final and produced a league-high number of interceptions, deflections and gains across the season. Adio sat one place behind Fadoju for deflections, while Pulse's defence made up the top three for pick-ups across the league. All three tasted the pain of Grand Final defeat in 2023, and that experience, as well as several years playing together, helped power them to a clinical victory on Sunday. 5. Ready for next year? With Bird already laying down the gauntlet that her team can win again next season, the fighting talk for the 2026 campaign has begun. Advertisement It comes as the signing window opens for clubs on Monday, allowing them to begin negotiating re-signings and transfers. Burgess has expressed her desire to keep the Lightning squad that reached a fifth-straight Grand Final together. With the introduction of two-year contracts as part of NSL 2.0, there is greater clarity for some players. But, for everyone else, a summer of intrigue and excitement begins again. To keep up with the latest news, make sure to follow the @NetballSL on X, Instagram and TikTok, Netball Super League on Facebook and LinkedIn, and subscribe to our newsletter.
Daily Mirror
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Netball revels in game-changing moment as fans pack O2 for thrilling final
After Commonwealth Games glory on the Gold Coast in 2018, the sport experienced lift-off on Sunday with 9,326 fans inside the O2 Arena in London to see London Pulse defeat Loughborough Lightning 53-45. Netball had its big stage moment seven years late with a record crowd for the 2025 Netball Super League Grand Final. After Commonwealth Games glory on the Gold Coast in 2018, the sport experienced lift-off on Sunday with 9,326 fans inside the O2 Arena in London to see London Pulse defeat Loughborough Lightning 53-45. It was fitting that the new era of the Netball Super League, dubbed NSL 2.0, had a first-time winner as the youngest team in the league beat the defending champions for victory. The figure of almost 10,000 fans makes it the largest ever NSL event and the biggest crowd at a netball match in the UK since 2002. 'There has been a lot of talk around the professionalisation of the league, we felt it this year but we really felt it here,' said losing finalist and Commonwealth gold medallist Jodie Gibson. 'This was the first time where I have felt there was a true change in this league. There was so much talk before the game about playing at the O2, but until I actually stepped in the venue I didn't truly believe that it would feel like that. 'There was an opportunity for netball to catapult off the success of 2018, I think they missed that. But netball is definitely back, it has arrived, and I look forward to seeing what's next.' The record crowd also meant that the gamble for the Netball Super League to move to a bigger Grand Final venue and push forward with professionalisation paid off. The season began with the league cut to eight teams as four of the old guard were removed. In their place, Nottingham Forest Netball, a side associated with the football club, and Birmingham Panthers, who are now part owned by Tom Brady's investment group, joined the league. Other changes had seen all matches broadcast on Sky Sports and the BBC for the first time, team sizes cut to 10 and an increase in player pay, although the league is not yet close to full professionalism. The arrival of the Super Shot, where teams can shoot from the edge of the circle and earn two points in the final five minutes of each quarter, meant that the Grand Final on Sunday was always close even if Pulse held the advantage from the first 10 minutes onwards. The London side have perfectly combined the old with the new – several of their key players have come through the pathway with one of them, Funmi Fadoju, winning Player of the Match. The 'new' came in the form of Gracie Smith, who at just 16 is the youngest-ever player in the NSL and whose raw style disrupted Lightning as they aimed to become the first side to win three titles in a row. Pulse captain Zara Everitt, who is also working as a trainee lawyer, said: 'It is great that we have done it this year in the first year of NSL 2.0. 'We are really well positioned commercially as a team to pull in loads of fans and sponsors. We are really blessed to come from the capital and have such a passionate fanbase. It is a great start, and I can't wait to do it again next year.' Head coach Sam Bird has been with the team for five years and has built a side that she had no doubt would win in their second Grand Final appearance. Bird has also helped propel Pulse to be one of the best-supported teams in the league and they had the lion's share of a partisan crowd. 'It was absolutely amazing to be playing here,' she said. 'It was so loud. When you are getting chants of 'defence' it felt like a home crowd. 'This is what we want, we want this more and more. It was a very special occasion for everybody.'
