Manchester Thunder are an English netball team based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. Their senior team plays in the Netball Super League. In 2005–06, Thunder were founding members of the league. They were Super League champions in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. Between 2001 and 2012 they played as Northern Thunder and were originally based in

Bury, Greater Manchester Bury (, ) is a market town on the River Irwell in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. which had a population of 81,101 in 2021 while the wider borough had a population of 193,846. The town was originally part of the ...

History

Northern Thunder

Between 2001 and 2005 Northern Thunder, together with five other franchises – Northern Flames, London Tornadoes, London Hurricanes, University of Birmingham Blaze and Team Bath Force – competed in the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

. Northern Thunder won the 2002 Super Cup. Northern Thunder players from the Super Cup era included Amanda Newton, Tracey Neville, Jade Clarke and

Sara Bayman Sara Francis-Bayman ( Bayman, born 23 December 1984) is an English former netball player and coach from Billinge near Wigan, England. She is currently an Assistant Coach for the West Coast Fever in the Suncorp Super Netball. Playing career ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Northern Thunder were named as the

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

franchise in the new Netball Super League. Together with Brunel Hurricanes, Celtic Dragons, Leeds Carnegie, Galleria Mavericks,

Team Bath Team Bath is the University of Bath's sporting organisation. In addition to entering teams in BUCS intervarsity competitions, Team Bath has also entered teams in national leagues and competitions. Team Bath F.C. reached the first round proper o ...

, Loughborough Lightning and Team Northumbria, Northern Thunder were founding members of the league. In

, Thunder won their first Superleague title. Janelle Lawson scored 33 goals as they defeated Surrey Storm 57–55 in the grand final.

Manchester Thunder

Thunder relocated from

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is to the southeast of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A ...

. They subsequently changed their name from Northern Thunder to Manchester Thunder ahead of the 2013 season. In

Thunder won their second Super League title after defeating Surrey Storm 49–48 in the grand final. In

Thunder won their third Super League title. In the 2022 season Manchester Thunder finished the regular season undefeated, becoming the first team to do so over 20 games. They defeated

in the semi-finals and then beat Loughborough Lightning in the final to claim their 4th Super League title. In the 2023 season they finished 3rd in the regular season standings and were defeated in their semi-final by the eventual champions Loughborough Lightning. They beat Surrey Storm in the third-place play-off. In the 2024 season Manchester Thunder finished the regular season top of the table, having only lost one game - against Loughborough Lightning at home. They faced

Severn Stars Severn Stars are an netball in England, English netball team based at the University of Worcester. The team is named after the River Severn, which runs through Worcester, England, Worcester and Gloucester, the original home cities of the two un ...

in the Semi Final, beating them 63-54, to set up a final against Loughborough, where they were defeated 54-70.

Senior finals

Super Cup

Netball Super League Grand Finals

Mike Greenwood Trophy

Since 2012 Manchester Thunder have hosted the Manchester Invitational Tournament. The winners are awarded the Mike Greenwood Trophy, named in honour of the former Northern Thunder head coach who died in 2011. It is usually played during pre-season.

Home venues

Thunder train and play their home games at several venues and locations throughout

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

with their main training facility and head office at MMU Platt Lane Sports Complex. Between 2008–09 and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, Northern Thunder played their home Super League games at Castle Leisure Centre in

. In

Manchester Thunder began playing their home Super League games at Wright Robinson College in

. When Manchester Thunder played home games there, the arena was referred to as the ''Manchester Thunderdome''. Since

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Manchester Thunder have played a majority of their home Super League games at the

National Basketball Performance Centre The National Basketball Performance Centre (NBPC) is a 2,000 capacity, three-court basketball arena located in Manchester, England. Background Construction on the £11m Belle Vue Sports Village, including the 2,000 seat FIBA-standard arena, b ...

in the Belle Vue Sports Village with other home Netball Super League matches being played at

Manchester Arena Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Pr ...

and in 2025 they will be playing at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool for the first time.

Notable players

2025 squad

Internationals

; ; *

Erin Bell Erin Bell (born 30 April 1987) is a former Australian netball player. Bell's career started in 2005 with the Sydney Swifts in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. She was the first player in the history of the ANZ Championship to win three premiersh ...

; *

Joyce Mvula Joyce Mvula (born 15 April 1994) is a Malawian netball player and winner of two Netball Superleague titles. Domestic career Mvula started playing netball at age 13 and became the first Malawian to play in the Netball Superleague after she ...

; * Liana Leota * Anna Thompson ; *

Caroline O'Hanlon Caroline O'Hanlon is a Northern Ireland netball international and an Armagh ladies' Gaelic footballer. She has also represented Ireland at international rules. She was a member of the Northern Ireland teams at the 2003, 2011 and 2019 Netball ...

; * Shadine van der Merwe * Elmerè van der Berg * Nicola Smith

Head coaches

Honours

Netball Superleague The Netball Super League is an elite netball league in the United Kingdom. The league is organised by England Netball but features teams based in Netball in England, England, Netball in Wales, Wales and previously Netball in Scotland, Scotland. ...

**''Winners'':

: 4 **''Runners up'':

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, 2024: 2 *

**''Winners'': 2002: 1 **''Runners up'': 2004: 1 *Mike Greenwood Trophy **''Winners'': 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019: 5 **''Runners up'': 2015: 1

References

External links

Manchester Thunder on Facebook

Manchester Thunder on Twitter
{{Netball in the United Kingdom Netball teams in England Netball Superleague teams Sport in Manchester Sports clubs and teams established in 2001 2001 establishments in England