Neville’s England netball squad seal double success

Commonwealth gold voted moment of year Southgate ‘incredibly proud’ to be top coach

While Geraint Thomas’s victory in the main category made it another golden night for cycling, netball was the other conspicuous winner from last night’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year show.

On a huge night for the sport, England women’s dramatic lastgasp win over hosts Australia in the netball final at the Commonwealth Games in April was voted sporting moment of the year.

The netballers also claimed the team-of-the-year gong, beating Europe’s Ryder Cup stars and the England football team, although coach Tracey Neville was overlooked for coach of the year, which went instead to the England manager Gareth Southgate.

England Netball will be ecstatic to have triumphed in two of the three biggest categories. According to the sport’s national governing body, more than 130,000 women have taken up the game in the eight months since Helen Housby’s memorable buzzer-beater in the final, which ensured England became the first team other than Australia or New Zealand to win Commonwealth gold.

Long-term partner Vitality recently committed to a new threeyear sponsorship deal, while Nike announced a sponsorship contract before England’s win over Uganda last week. The BBC and Sky have also announced a deal to broadcast every minute of the World Cup.

Captain Ama Agbeze said it had been a “long journey”, with England never having won a major final of any description prior to April’s historic win. “Football came home this year and we hope that netball came home, too,” she said.

The win for moment of the year was significant as it was one of only three awards voted for by the public, the other two being sports personality and world sport star.

It beat Alastair Cook’s century in his final Test, the Tiger Woods comeback win in the Tour Championship, England’s penalty shootout victory against Colombia in the