Team Northumbria (netball)

History

Northern Flames

Between 2001 and 2005, Northern Flames, together with five other franchises – London Hurricanes, London Tornadoes, Team Bath Force, University of Birmingham Blaze and Northern Thunder – competed in the Super Cup. By 2005 Northern Flames had become Team Northumbria Flames.

Early Superleague seasons

In 2005 Team Northumbria were named as the North East England franchise in the new Netball Superleague. Together with Brunel Hurricanes, Celtic Dragons, Leeds Carnegie, Galleria Mavericks, Northern Thunder, Loughborough Lightning and Team Bath, Team Northumbria were founder members of the league. Team Northumbria's best performance in the Netball Superleague came in 2007–08 when, with a team that included Megan Hutton, they finished second during the regular season, behind Loughborough Lightning, and qualified for the play-offs. Future England national netball team manager, Tracey Neville began her senior coaching career with Team Northumbria when she served as head coach for the 2011 Netball Superleague season.

Northern Ireland

As part of their preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Northern Ireland national netball team formed a partnership with Team Northumbria. This saw seven Northern Ireland internationals – Oonagh McCullough, Fionnuala Toner, Caroline O'Hanlon, Gemma Gibney, Michelle Drayne, Noleen Lennon and Niamh Cooper – play for Team Northumbria during the 2014 Netball Superleague season. With Kate Carpenter taking charge of both teams, Northern Ireland and Team Northumbria also shared a coach. Toner and O'Hanlon also played for Team Northumbria during the 2015 season.

Later years

Team Northumbria competed in the inaugural 2017 British Fast5 Netball All-Stars Championship. In July 2018 Northumbria University announced it was withdrawing seven of its national league sports teams due to cuts to its elite sport programme. This included Team Northumbria withdrawing from the Netball Superleague. London Pulse would subsequently replace them for the 2019 season. In addition to playing in the Netball Superleague, Team Northumbria has also represented Northumbria University in the Stan Calvert Cup. Team Northumbria continue to enter teams in intervarsity leagues organised by British Universities and Colleges Sport.

Home venue

Northern Flames played their home games at Gateshead Leisure Centre. Team Northumbria plays its home games at Northumbria University's Sport Central.

Notable former players

Internationals

;

• Ama Agbeze
• Leah Kennedy
• Olivia Murphy ;

;

• Carla Dziwoki ;
• Shanice Beckford
• Nicole Dixon ;
• Belinda Colling ;
• Hayley Mulheron

Source:

Head coaches

References

References

1. (4 May 2001). "Netball: Silly name brigade get Super start". www.telegraph.co.uk.
2. (25 April 2001). "Flames Aim To Set New League On Fire". www.chroniclelive.co.uk.
3. (23 May 2001). "Flames Are Shot Down In Play-offs". www.chroniclelive.co.uk.
4. (14 May 2003). "Classy ladies". www.chroniclelive.co.uk.
5. (28 April 2005). "Battle of the Sexes in Super Cup Build-Up". www.sportfocus.com.
6. (6 May 2005). "University Update". www.bath.ac.uk.
7. Dr. Louise Mansfield & Dr. Lara Killick. (1 January 2012). "The UK Netball Superleague: A Case Study of Franchising in Elite Women's Sport". Brunel University, School of Sport and Education, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK; and University of the Pacific, Department of Health, Exercise and Sport Science, Stockton, CA.
8. (29 March 2008). "TN closing in on final". www.thenorthernecho.co.uk.
9. (26 January 2011). "Netball: Tracey Neville on a six-year plan". www.thejournal.co.uk.
10. (29 January 2011). "Neville's long-term goal for her team". www.thenorthernecho.co.uk.
11. (12 October 2011). "Tracey Neville handed head job at Northern Thunder". www.bbc.co.uk.
12. (1 April 2015). "Tracey Neville: The netball coach who is just as busy as her brothers, Gary and Phil". www.independent.co.uk.
13. (30 January 2014). "Northern Ireland reach for glory with Team Northumbria". www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
14. (4 February 2014). "Northumbria and Northern Ireland in Netball Superleague partnership". www.bbc.co.uk.
15. (8 February 2014). "Northern Irish eyes are smiling as North-East netball enters a new era". www.thenorthernecho.co.uk.
16. (22 January 2015). "Preview: Greenway on the Superleague". www.surreystormnetball.co.uk.
17. (14 June 2017). "Team Northumbria complete British Fast5 All-Stars Championship line-up". www.fast5allstars.com.
18. "History". www.fast5allstars.com.
19. (10 July 2018). "Team Northumbria withdraw from the Northern League just weeks before new season". www.chroniclelive.co.uk.
20. (10 July 2018). "London Pulse join Netball Superleague". www.skysports.com.
21. (10 July 2018). "Netball Superleague: London Pulse to replace Team Northumbria in 2019". www.bbc.com.
22. (12 July 2018). "Northumbria University axes elite sports teams amid cuts". www.bbc.com.
23. (2 March 2015). "Stan Calvert: How it happened for Northumbria". stancalvert.co.uk.
24. "Netball". northumbriasport.com.
25. "Team Northumbria". www.netballsl.com.
26. (31 January 2015). "Team Northumbria's netball coach Lisa Stanley-Craig is confident of success". www.chroniclelive.co.uk.
27. (21 October 2015). "Team Northumbria sign Jamaican stars Shanice Beckford and Nicole Dixon". www.skysports.com.
28. (5 December 2008). "Netball: Team Northumbria coach won't walk away". www.chroniclelive.co.uk.
29. (19 March 2012). "Team Northumbria netball coach saves the day in motorway drama". www.thejournal.co.uk.
30. (22 September 2015). "Team Northumbria appoint Te Aroha Keenan". www.chroniclelive.co.uk.
31. (22 March 2017). "A Kiwi mother and daughter make their mark in Northumbria". www.skysports.com.