Over the turbulent months of 2020, Manchester Thunder and Manchester City Council have been working hard to bring netball back into the sporting spotlight, and are ecstatic to be celebrating the return of elite-level netball in announcing our new pre-season event, “NETBALL’S RISE AGAIN FESTIVAL.”
With the Vitality Netball Superleague being cancelled earlier this year, the Rise Again Festival organisers understood that both the netball community and dedicated fans have unfortunately been deprived of elite and amateur netball this year, and wanted to do something to end 2020 in a positive way.
Hosted by television and radio presenter Lindsey Chapman, she will be bringing you a thorough and in-depth analysis and commentary from each game, as well as exclusive interviews with both coaches and players.
Featuring six of the best netball teams in the country, including Loughborough Lightning, Leeds Rhinos, Surrey Storm, Strathclyde Sirens, Manchester Thunder and Saracens Mavericks, the event will be lived streamed from 11.30 am on the 19th December, and will be the first visible match play of UK elite level netball for nine months.
Lindsey Chapman said: “We’re already looking forward to you joining us and showcasing everything that is great about UK netball.”
The first game centre pass starts at 12.00 pm, with Loughborough Lightning and Leeds Rhinos taking to the court. Then, at 14.00 pm, Surrey Storm and Strathclyde Sirens go head to head. And finally, at 16.00 pm, Saracens Mavericks and the current Vitality Netball Superleague Champions, Manchester Thunder will bring this monumental and celebratory day to a close, playing the final game of the day.
The festival helps to amplify the importance of netball in the UK as Covid-19 continues to heavily impact the team sport in a variety of ways. Prior to the pandemic, netball was recognised as becoming the top women’s team sport in the UK and was undoubtedly thriving amongst female adults and young children. Netball saw a staggering amount of participation amongst all age categories, specifically between May 2018 – May 2019, seeing 50,200 more people taking part in the sport. However, as lockdown struck the nation, the pandemic has had a whirlwind of effects on this treasured sport. However, one of the main attacks on netball has been on the participation levels and the access to facilities needed to play netball safely, which has left both elite and amateur players in an uncertain and anxious situation.
However, netball legend Tracey Neville MBE quickly recognised the detrimental effects COVID-19 was having on Netball and took matters into her own hands to support netball by creating Neville’s Netball Army saying: “Last month I launched Neville’s Netball Army in a bid to recover the momentum we’d lost as a virtue of the global pandemic, and the response has been overwhelming, with people up and down the country registering their support for reprioritising and recovering women’s sport.
“One of the most interesting findings is that over 95% of people who signed up to the army said that they want to see more live-streamed events, and 85% of these people would pay to watch. This festival has proved to be the perfect opportunity to validate this and as such I’m delighted to be on the game-day commentary team.”
The Rise Again Festival has teamed up with broadcast and production specialists TeleVideo who shoot live UK netball games for Sky, as well as live streaming service Dacast in order to broadcast their matches live on the day, in what promises to be a very enjoyable event.
Live streaming passes can be purchased in advance for £9.95 which will get you over 6 hours of netball entertainment including all 3 live games, and the event can be streamed anywhere in the world.
To purchase your pass, please visit www.riseagainfestival.co.uk.