Netball World Cup 2019: What's next for England?
- Published
Housby doesn't miss a shot as England take bronze at 2019 World Cup
Record crowds watched Tracey Neville's England win their third successive World Cup bronze medal in Liverpool - but it was not the climax the Roses hoped for.
Their third place play-off win came one year and three months after they shocked Australia - the most successful netball nation in the world - to win Commonwealth gold.
As they leave Liverpool without the world title and with Neville leaving her role as head coach, what's next for this Roses team?
Who will be the next Tracey Neville?
England head coach Tracey Neville happy with bronze medal against South Africa
Neville, 42, announced before the World Cup that she would be standing down to start a family.
The former international, the sister of former footballers Phil and Gary Neville, was appointed in 2015, having coached domestic side Manchester Thunder for the previous four years.
She was tasked with turning around the fortunes of an England side who had finished fourth at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
She won two World Cup bronzes during her tenure, while also engineering Quad Series victories over Australia and New Zealand, but will forever be remembered as the coach that guided the team to a first major championship gold.
So how do you fill those shoes?
England Netball chief executive Joanna Adams says she wants the next national coach to be British. It is understood four-time Superleague-winning coach and ex-England wing attack Tamsin Greenway is one of the front-runners for the job, although Adelaide Thunderbirds' Australian boss Tania Obst is also a leading contender.
"I think it's fine to get someone foreign in if they are the best person for the job but I can't think of anyone that would be better than what we've got here in England," said former Roses captain Sara Bayman, a BBC pundit.
"There is going to be such a big rebuilding process, so it's not necessarily about who comes in, but what they can offer.
"Tracey was a personality and did a lot for the image of the sport, but now it is very much about bringing in someone who is a developmental coach. It's a real grey area on what the job is."
No major event for three years - so how do England maintain the legacy?
Momentum is key to growing a sport's popularity but there is a bit of a gap in netball's scheduling after the World Cup. The English domestic season does not start until January and the next major international event does not come until 2022 - at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
"We have been building up the sport and we have a really strong Superleague and a quad series that keeps netball on the TV and at the forefront of people's minds," said England Netball chief executive Adams.
"We have surpassed Sydney [the 2015 World Cup hosts] in ticket sales and we want mums and daughters to love the sport and I think we have done that."
The team lining up to compete in Birmingham will look considerably different to the one who stepped on the podium on Sunday.
Four Commonwealth champions - defenders Geva Mentor, Eboni Usoro-Brown, centre-courter Jade Clarke and shooter Jo Harten - are all in their 30s, and are unlikely to make another major tournament.
"Some of those players have been around this team for a long time and it's about whether they want to keep going," added Adams.
"It's a tough sport but there is some great talent coming through. We didn't want the legacy of netball not to continue."
Can England - or anyone - stop Australia and New Zealand?
'What a contest' - Epic final quarter wins 2019 World Cup for Silver Ferns
England not winning gold on home soil could be seen as failure, but given the Roses' defeat by eventual champions New Zealand was their eighth semi-final loss in a row, was it a surprise?
The Australian and Kiwis have contested every World Cup final since 1991, with the Diamonds winning 11 titles.
But their dominance is under threat, according to England mid-courter Sasha Corbin.
"Australia have always been on the top," she said. "No-one's ever seemed to take them on, especially for the past few World Cups. You can see how close netball is at the top level now."
Four African nations finished in the top eight at the World Cup for the first time this year, and South Africa breaking into the top four shows nations are catching up.
So will it just be Australia challenging for New Zealand's World Cup crown in Cape Town in 2023?
"Everyone's getting closer," added Bayman. "England's Commonwealth Games victory on the Gold Coast last year made other nations believe that they could do it.
"We've seen South Africa in the top four for the first time in 24 years, we see a new world champion for the first time in 16 years. Things are changing in global netball and it's exciting to see."
BBC Sport has launched #ChangeTheGame this summer to showcase female athletes in a way they never have been before. Through more live women's sport available to watch across the BBC this summer, complemented by our journalism, we are aiming to turn up the volume on women's sport and alter perceptions. Find out more here.
- Published10 July 2019
