Netball

Liv Tchine’s first impression was “wow”.

Her second was “can I stay here forever?”.

Her third was “one day this will be all ours”.

Netball’s kingdom is modest, but prolific England goal shooter Tchine and her team-mates recently had a glimpse of a top-tier sporting promised land.

These are the Roses players targeting Commonwealth Games gold at Glasgow 2026 and World Cup glory in 2027.

They are at the vanguard of the sport’s professional era, the elite of the three million people who play netball in England at least once a year. Most players are women, but men play too.

Tchine and co draw inspiration from the Euros-winning Lionesses and World Cup-winning Red Roses, rather than lament encroachment on netball’s legacy territory.

Netball Super League is newly professional but funds are tight, similar to football’s Women’s Super League in the mid-2010s.

Players hear of rewards that could be theirs one day. Often those rewards feel a million miles away, yet not always.

For Tchine, a standout in the London Pulse side who swept to their first Super League title this year, the “wow” moment came at the Lionesses’ luxury hangout.

St George’s Park lies in Derbyshire countryside, tucked out of sight. An understated private drive off a hedge-lined B road is a portal to a world beyond the dreams of most sportspeople.

“Just imagine netball having this kind of facility. Do you know how sick that would be?”

That was Tchine on an Instagram video diary, reacting to visiting the Football Association’s state-of-the-art national team training centre for the first time. The gym, the recovery rooms, the green, green grass of England’s home.

England’s netballers spent a training block there, before autumn series against Jamaica and New Zealand.

“I was like, if we could just stay here forever, I would happily move,” Tchine tells BBC Sport.

“So, so good. We were there for 10 days. The facilities were, honestly, so amazing.

“The whole time we were there I was just like, one day netball could definitely have something like this.”

The second season since Super League’s relaunch is coming, with 2026 fixtures announced this week., external

Pulse are in “the best position we’ve ever been in”, Tchine says.

The league is growing. Average attendances climbed by 42% in 2025, having been about 1,500 previously. In comparison, the first Women’s Super League football season – following a 2014 reboot – had average crowds of 728 (from 562 in 2013).

Women’s football crowds in the tens of thousands are now almost commonplace, but that didn’t happen overnight.

Tchine, a 24-year-old south Londoner, admired portraits of England footballers – men and women – lining St George’s Park’s corridors.

“I definitely hope that if I’m still playing in 10 years we’ll be at the same level as the Lionesses and the Red Roses,” she says.

“They were both absolutely incredible this summer – going out there, doing their job and coming out with wins was amazing. It’s really good to see women’s sport hitting levels that it’s never been at in the past.

“I want to be able to go out with the Roses and use that momentum to try and get our gold medal.”

The season’s opening night served up a cruel reminder that netball players risk serious injury every time they take to the court.

Teams are offering better training facilities and more opportunities to spend time in the gym, but women in sport remain far more susceptible to non-contact serious injuries than men.

That was highlighted when London Mavericks’ Vicki Oyesola crumpled to the court floor after landing a little awkwardly against Cardiff Dragons.

It was the dreaded anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury, the bane of many a netballer’s career – a season-ender on day one.

NSL says women are six times more likely to sustain such a non-contact injury than men, while a National Ligament Registry study has shown there are only more ACLs suffered by women in skiing than in netball.

More setbacks have followed, with Birmingham Panthers goal shooter Sigi Burger suffering a complete tear of her medial collateral ligament.

Manchester Thunder captain Amy Carter, who is a junior doctor and missed the 2022 season with an ACL injury, explained to BBC Sport why netballers suffer so badly.

“It’s a few different things. Your hips are a little bit wider, your knees are a bit closer together, you’re more likely to do your ACL,” Carter said.

“You’ve got the menstrual cycle to take into account, which can increase your risk when you’re on your period. The nature of the game, the change of directions, the high impact, the stopping still straight away, that can also contribute to it.”

Research continues into how players might mitigate risk, but knees are not the only problem. Panthers’ Gabby Marshall retired in May after a second concussion injury in a month.

Loughborough Lightning have the chance to go for an unprecedented three-peat after booking their spot to face London Pulse in the Netball Super League Grand Final.

Defending champions Lightning were condemned to the preliminary final after they were beaten last week by Pulse, the regular season leaders.

That meant a repeat of last year’s Grand Final against Manchester Thunder and hosts Lightning came from behind to win 69-57 on Sunday.

Thunder scored 10 unanswered goals en route to a 19-12 lead after the first quarter, but Lightning did not look back after a blistering second.

After going 27-20 down, Jodie Gibson came on at goal defence to give Lightning a boost, while Samantha Wallace-Joseph did the damage at the other end.

The Trinidad and Tobago shooter converted five two-point super shots during the second quarter to help Lightning into a 37-30 lead at half-time.

Thunder called a tactical timeout at 44-33 down, while South Africa shooter Elmere van der Berg was brought off for the first time all season.

But Lightning still led 52-40 heading into the final quarter and stayed clear to book a rematch with Pulse in next Sunday’s Grand Final at London’s O2 Arena.

London Pulse secured top spot at the end of the Netball Super League regular season – and with it home advantage for the major semi-final in the play-offs.

Pulse led Loughborough Lightning by two points going into the final round of games and were given a helping hand.

It came from Birmingham Panthers who caused a surprise in their coach Jo Trip’s final game in charge by achieving a 67-58 success over Lightning, who have won three of the past four Grand Finals, to ensure Pulse finished top.

Antonia Mitchell had 42 goals for Panthers who pulled clear in the second quarter against a Lightning side who lacked fluency and will have plenty to think about before the play-offs.

Pulse then ensured they go into next weekend’s game against Lightning on a high with a comfortable 67-44 victory over bottom side Cardiff Dragons, helped by 36 goals from Olivia Tchine.

The winner of the major semi-final goes straight to the Grand Final while the loser will face the winner of the minor semi-final between third and fourth – Manchester Thunder and London Mavericks – to determine the other finalist.

Thunder and Mavericks lined up for a dress rehearsal on Saturday with the Manchester side winning 67-45 at Wembley Arena, led by 50 goals from Elmere van der Berg.

In the weekend’s final game on Sunday, the sport will say farewell to one of its greatest players.

Former England star Geva Mentor takes to the court for the last time before she retires as she lines up for Leeds Rhinos against Nottingham Forest (16:00 BST) in a match you can watch live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.