May 30, 2024
Today marks the dawn of a new professional era for netball in the United Kingdom. With a landmark announcement from England Netball and Netball Superleague (NSL). London Pulse will be one of eight clubs that have been successful in a tender process to participate in the relaunched League from 2025.
Since London Pulse entered the NSL in 2019, they have been a driving force for the sport not only in the capital but the UK as a whole. In three of their five full seasons in existence London Pulse have competed in semi-finals and in 2023 the club reached its first Grand Final. A Super League title remains the target for this year's squad and on top of Super League progress, the club’s U21, U19, U17 and U15 teams have all won gold across various England Netball NPL competitions over the past 2 seasons, seeing many players go on to represent England at international level.
Sam Bird, CEO of London Pulse, believes the club are in a perfect position to take advantage of this great news…“We are very proud to be a key club in the professional NSL, we recognise this is an amazing opportunity to inspire Londoners to watch and play netball and a responsibility to do all we can to bring success to our sport”. Sam went on to explain that it’s not just the performances on the pitch that matter, “we have set ourselves the targets and expectations as a club to be a professional sporting environment - from the venue we play in, to the way we interact with our fanbase and community to the emphasis put on developing our pathway”.
Calling it “a pivotal moment”, England Netball Chief Executive Fran Connolly added that “professionalisation is part of our ten-year Adventure Strategy to accelerate the growth of the game in this country”, with Claire Nelson, NSL Managing Director saying that, “going from ten clubs at present to eight next year will be a case of fewer, bigger, better….[these] clubs will help to define our League as we enter this new era for our domestic game. ”
Speaking as part of the body representing the players, Liz Bloor, Managing Director at the Netball Players Association said she was “delighted that this first step on the road to professionalising the sport and creating real career opportunities has been realised.”
This announcement means that the league's games will be played at arena venues up and down the country. Fans will be delighted to hear that Pulse will continue to play their home games at Copper Box Arena which has welcomed the strong and loyal fanbase over their time in the Super League, with attendance numbers hitting over 3,500 for a single match this season.
“This announcement is fantastic news for Sam and the team at London Pulse who have worked tirelessly in the last few years to engage local communities and the rest of the capital with Netball” said Stuart Hutchison, General Manager at Copper Box Arena, who was excited to hear about the announcement, “We can’t wait to welcome the team and the fans back at Copper Box in the new season”.
London Pulse continue to beat the drum, flying the flag for netball across the UK working with communities and groups in London to play, watch and enjoy netball and consistently develop talent. With proven international players, a world class home venue at Copper Box Arena and a commitment to developing the netballers of the future, London Pulse welcome the new era of netball in the United Kingdom and we wish them every success.
For more information fans can visit www.netballsl.com