‘I want to be the next England coach’
Neville’s successor faces a different task as experienced squad breaks up, but I would love to take on the challenge
What a tournament – and what a moment for netball in England. I have never witnessed anything quite like it here, from the thousands of fans who created such an amazing atmosphere in Liverpool to the huge level of
interest we had across the country. It has been brilliant for the sport. Even without England making the final, the tournament showed how much global netball has shifted over the past few years and that can only help the sport grow. Having five genuine contenders trying to make the semi-finals was hugely significant and New Zealand winning was a bit of a fairy tale that the sport needed. There will be plenty of people in Australia who take the view that their side are in crisis after losing the Commonwealth Games and World Cup finals by one goal. But they have dominated the world of netball for so long that this was always going to happen; teams were always going to catch up.
The standout nation for me were Zimbabwe. Making their World Cup debut, they captured attention on and off court, and punched well above their weight with some dazzling performances.
The fact that Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe finished sixth, seventh and eighth shows just how much potential the African nations have, but the sport needs to work together if the gap between them and the top five is to close, because it does not help netball to have only a few super nations.
We have to look at how we provide more African and Caribbean players with the opportunity to play club netball overseas, but we also need to make sure that has a positive impact in their home countries. One or two players moving over to play in Australia or New Zealand is all well and good, but we need to aid things like coach education in these countries and give them greater opportunities to play against the best nations.
We moan about funding and resources here in England, but you are looking at a completely different battlefield when you go over there.
The creation of the Quad Series has been so important for the top sides and its value can be seen in the growth of South African netball in recent years. So there are case studies to show that teams will improve if you give them greater opportunities.
The problem, as always, is money. It is easy to say more matches need to be played, but there has to be money for that, so we need to see how funding can be increased for these countries. That is something the International Netball Federation must look at.
As for England, they have to take the lows of last week with the highs of winning Commonwealth gold if they truly want to move forward as an elite sport. They came in with a bold statement of wanting to make a first World Cup final and just missed out. The frustrating thing is they were undoubtedly good enough to make it and I am guessing this will be the last chance some of those players have to play on such a stage.
One lesson they must learn moving forward is looking at how they match up with the top teams. Over the past two years they have stood up very well to Australia but, historically, they have never been good against the traditional Kiwi style and that happened again in the semi-final defeat in Liverpool. So preparation for this is now going to be key.
They should be proud of what they have done for netball in England, but they will want to ensure this does not happen again.
Now the World Cup is over, England will shortly announce who they have chosen as their new head coach and I have made it known that I put my name in the hat to replace Tracey Neville. I have achieved everything I want to at domestic level and if I were lucky enough to be given the role, coaching the England side would be the next step up in my career.
Whoever does get it will have a very different task to Tracey because of the vastly experienced players who will likely be stepping aside or taking time out and the international inexperience of the new ones coming through.
All but two of England’s World Cup squad had played club netball in Australia and New Zealand, while this next group have not had that opportunity yet. So it will be a lot more about development than it was when Tracey took over four years ago.
It will be tough, but it is an exciting challenge for whoever that person is.
Zimbabwe were the standout nation for me, punching well above their weight with some dazzling displays