Tracey Neville: England Netball still has funding 'noose around neck' despite gold
- Published
The Commonwealth gold won by England's netballers will help the sport but funding remains a "noose around our neck", head coach Tracey Neville says.
The Roses stunned favourites Australia to secure the greatest result in their history on Sunday with a 52-51 victory.
Asked if the achievement would transform the sport's prospects in the UK, Neville said: "It's just massive."
English Netball is funded by Sport England with a combination of National Lottery cash and Government money.
Last February netball was awarded £13.9m for development and £3m for the national team.
But Neville, who called Sunday's win the "highlight of her life", said the sport is still under pressure from financial constraints.
"I can't sit here and say that we haven't got a noose around our neck about money and funding, but these are little steps to try and sustain the income in our sport," she said.
"We saw the impact that London 2012 had on women's sport, we saw the impact that Rio had on the hockey, obviously the World Cup with the cricket.
"And you know, women's sport is getting bigger."
Referring to her brother, former Manchester United player Phil Neville, who was appointed as head coach of the England women's national football team in January, she added: "Obviously now there's big names moving into women's football, big head coach role.
"I think it's just really pleasing to see."
Neville said the UK netball Superleague, which resumes again on Saturday after a break for the Commonwealth Games, might also benefit from the national team's achievement on the Gold Coast.
"I think Australia at the moment are tipping the market, with a lot of our girls playing out there," she said.
"In respect to UK domestic competition, the clubs are working no end to try and make the game more professional. This gold may promote a little bit more of that hope going forward."
UK Sport funds elite sport in the country, and does not currently contribute to netball, but their chief executive Liz Nicholl said the 2019 netball World Cup in Liverpool will give England another chance to shine and develop the sport's commercial growth.
"Their performances were outstanding and next year they have a World Championships which we're supporting," she said.
"They have a chance to have that same platform that they did so wonderfully well at on the Gold Coast at the weekend. They can replay that in front of a brilliant UK audience with great spectator support.
"Resources are critically important and I know they're working very hard at working in partnership and franchising their super league to get more commercial income in."
A spokesman for Sport England said its funding must primarily focus on the amateur game, with projects that help former players get back into the sport, and develop a walking netball programme which helps older people or people with injuries play.
It said: "Sport England's remit is to help ordinary people get active, and England Netball has always understood this means that we will no longer be able to invest in high performance sport.
"We have been supporting England Netball to develop an ambitious commercial programme so they are not reliant on public money.
"The England squad's win in the Commonwealth is an incredible achievement we hope will not only attract more people to play netball, but will help England Netball attract more commercial funding to grow the game."