Team Northumbria is an English netball team based at

Northumbria University Northumbria University (legally the University of Northumbria at Newcastle) is a Public research university, public research university located in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, North East of England. It has been a university since 199 ...

. Between 2001 and 2005 they played 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 ...

as Northern Flames. They also played as Team Northumbria Flames. Between 2005–06 and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, their senior team played in the

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. ...

. The netball team is one of several sports teams based at Northumbria University that use the Team Northumbria brand name. Others include an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team and a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team. In 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.

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

. By 2005 Northern Flames had become Team Northumbria Flames.

Early Superleague seasons

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 ...

Team Northumbria were named as the

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

franchise in the new

. Together with

Brunel Hurricanes Surrey Storm was an English netball team based at the University of Surrey. Their senior team played in the Netball Super League between 2005 and 2024. Between 2001 and 2005 they played in the Super Cup as London Hurricanes. After forming a p ...

Celtic Dragons Cardiff Dragons are a Welsh netball team based in Cardiff. Their senior team plays in the Netball Superleague. In 2005–06 they were founder members of the league. Their best performance in the Superleague came in 2013 when they finished as ...

Leeds Carnegie Leeds Carnegie was a brand name used by several sports teams associated with the Carnegie School of Physical Education, now part of Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LM ...

Galleria Mavericks London Mavericks is an English netball team based at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. Their senior team plays in the Netball Super League where they were a founding member in 2005–06. They are two time Super League champions i ...

, Northern Thunder, Loughborough Lightning and

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 ...

, 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 The England national netball team, also known as the Vitality Roses, represent England Netball in international netball tournaments such as the Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Netball Quad Series, the Taini Jamison Trophy, the ...

manager,

Tracey Neville Tracey Anne Neville (born 21 January 1977) is a former England netball international and a former England head coach. She is the current head coach of Melbourne Mavericks. As a player, she was a member of the England teams that won bronze me ...

began her senior coaching career with Team Northumbria when she served as head coach for the

2011 Netball Superleague season The 2011 Netball Superleague season (known for sponsorship reasons as the Fiat Group Automobiles, FIAT Netball Superleague) was the sixth season of the Netball Superleague. The league was won by Hertfordshire Mavericks. In the 2011 Netball Superl ...

Northern Ireland

As part of their preparations for the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

, the

Northern Ireland national netball team The Northern Ireland national netball team represent Northern Ireland in international netball tournaments such as the INF Netball World Cup, Netball World Cup, the Netball at the Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Games, the European Netball Cha ...

formed a partnership with Team Northumbria. This saw seven Northern Ireland internationals – Oonagh McCullough, Fionnuala Toner,

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 ...

, 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 The British Fast5 Netball All-Stars Championship is a Fast5 netball pre-season tournament featuring teams from the Netball Superleague. The rules of the tournament are similar, though not identical, to the Fast5 Netball World Series. In 2017 Lou ...

. In July 2018

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

. London Pulse would subsequently replace them for the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

. 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 British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS; ) is the sports governing body, governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2008, BUCS is responsible for organising 54 inter-university sports in the United King ...

Home venue

Northern Flames played their home games at Gateshead Leisure Centre. Team Northumbria plays its home games at

Sport Central Sport Central is a multi-purpose built sports centre and events arena that is located in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It forms part of the Northumbria University campus, in the city centre. The centre houses facilities for swimmi ...

Notable former players

Internationals

; *

Ama Agbeze Ama Agbeze (born 12 November 1982) is an England netball international. She was captain when England won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In 2019 she received an for her services to netball. She was also a member of the England ...

* Leah Kennedy * Olivia Murphy ; ; *

Carla Dziwoki Carla Dziwoki (born 29 August 1982) is a former Australian netball player. Dziwoki played with the Queensland Firebirds in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. She played for Team Northumbria in the 2008–09 Netball Superleague for the . She also ...

; *

Shanice Beckford Shanice Beckford (born 16 April 1995) is a Jamaican netball player. She was part of the teams that won bronze at the 2014 and 2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Un ...

Nicole Dixon Nicole Dixon (born 3 February 1995) is a Jamaican netball player. She was part of the Jamaican squad that won bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was an unused reserve member (not a part of the official squad) of the 2014 team. In 2017, ...

; * Belinda Colling ; * Hayley Mulheron

Head coaches

References

External links

Team Northumbria on Twitter
{{Netball Superleague Netball teams in England Defunct Netball Superleague teams University and college netball clubs in the United Kingdom

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...