The Netball Show
S7 Ep31: Claire Nelson (28th July 2024)
The netball show with Flyhawk, raising the bar for netball and winning sport. The netball show with Flyhawk, the MD of the netball Super League is Claire Nelson. Claire, grand final this weekend. And it's what it's all about, isn't it? How all those rounds are leading up to the big final? Yeah, it's so exciting. So, you know, I started in this new role last year, the week of the grand final. So, I remember coming along to her, it was about three, four days in post. And I like sheepishly just wandered around watching everything that was going on. And here I am, a year later, feels like a decade. It's been a big year. But going into, I think, one of the most exciting grand finals we've ever had. I mean, I have to, like, props to our events team. They have pulled out all the stops. We've got a record-breaking crowd over eight and a half thousand as it's sitting at this moment in time. A huge battle, as we know, Thunder and Lightning, both going for their own records. Lightning won back-to-back. Thunder won a match-bath title of five wins. And the sports prize, the partnerships, the engagement around it. That third fourth playoff between Stars and Pulse, which I think is going to be an incredible game. We really, after what's been a long, a tough and adventurous season. And the last one of the current Super League, as we know it, I think we're really going to round off and wrap up Super League in a pretty epic way. How do you think that the Super League has been, Isha? Another fantastic showcase. Yeah. I mean, we've been on a journey of growth and we've continued to do that this year. And I think we shared some stats halfway through the season to say that, you know, our viewers were up, I think, but by the first kind of few rounds of the season, we'd had a hundred thousand more viewers on Sky Sports. Viewing was up by 53%. You know, we've got a record-breaking grand final. You know, our clubs themselves have put on big arena games, had some sellout games. So everything's been growing. We've had some really exciting performances. Again, some, you know, blowouts, which is why we're remodeling next year. But on the whole, I feel like it's been really compelling. And for stars to make top four and that kind of battle around the middle, you've had kind of teams take teams and then be beaten by others that week after. So it's been an exciting journey for fans and that's what we want. And that's, you know, grand final is all about culmination of that. Yes, it's going to come down to two teams and one of them wants to lift that trophy. But it's a celebration of everyone that's competed. And there's been some real trials and tribulations for a lot of these teams. I mean, personally, I obviously watch sirens and they've had injuries and they've had such bad luck that they've just shown such grit and resilience as a squad. And just, it's been exciting and that's what our sport represents. So, you know, what the grand final is, it's a culmination of competition, but ultimately it's a celebration of people, everyone on and off the court that makes this league what it is, that shows up to support, that puts on the event days, that pushes a boundary that administrates and coaches, that gives up their time, that travels the length and breadth of the UK, that goes out and puts on these performances, captures it and shares it also that we as fans can consume it and enjoy it. And I just, I'm really excited to have everyone together in one place for us to have this amazing celebration of the 2024 season. I'll ask you about sirens, a little later, but that final in itself is under V Lightning. Two teams that will almost see that suitable sign-off in the first chapter of the game here. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a massive game for us. Who knows who's going to win? I think it's, you know, their stalwarts, they know how to win, they're strong, they're competitive. So, I'm really, what I want is an exciting final. I want it to the world. I know the coaches don't. The coaches don't want to sit there. We're goal to goal. But as fans, we want to watch an amazing final and we want the best of the best. This is the thing. Like, you know, they're all, we all know that there's certain fixtures that we want to see and it's not always top of the table. It's those that we think are going to be really tight, close and compelling. And this is what we're kind of building the model of 2.0 on, but what we should get with Thunder and Lightning. And I also think with Paulson Stars as well, is I think we're going to have two tight, highly competitive games that could go either way. And that's what we want as fans, whether we're in the arena or we're tuning in at home, we want to see a competition. And these guys are the best of the best. So, it's going to be a fantastic, fantastic 60 minutes of netball. Stars impulse have had good seasons as well, haven't they? Great seasons. And you know what, hats off to Joan. What a lovely announcement this week that she's been appointed head coach of Birmingham Panthers so that they continue that journey in the West Midlands and take those fans with them. And it's a lovely, like, she's just got going and to have made the top four and to, you know, that third quarter against Thunder and the semi-final, they put out a great performance there. And I think it's going to be tight between them and Paul's. Paulson's got something to prove. They are an absolutely, you know, world-class team, but stars are out there almost with nothing to lose and everything to gain and they've got, you know, this lovely positivity and they want to go out as stars on a high. So, yeah, I think we've got an amazing day of fixtures and it's almost like, you know, the perfect grand final to wrap up this season and to sort of celebrate all those teams that have been part of the Super League today. Yeah, definitely come around too soon. I'm far too soon. We should try working in the end days. In a long season, let me tell you. Darren's resource, Sammy, got eight overall with something like 463 goals. Karis Finn obviously eighth in deflections in the top 10 and Emma Love just had another really strong season. You'd be keeping an eye on Sirens from the car? Yeah, I mean, I live with the Sirens assistant coach, a lovely lady called Rachel Cremen. She's got some good genetics in there and so I follow the Sirens journey exceptionally close. Look, they were my baby. They are my baby. I love them. I created them and led them and, you know, I will always support them. I support all the teams. It's been really interesting how quickly, you know, as much as I have a soft spot for Sirens, how quickly in this role my focus became the league and the clubs and having the best clubs and supporting the players and the coaches and wanting to see the league and everyone within it, you know, really flourish and have great, you know, a great season. But what I've loved is honestly those guys have had it tough. Like through no fault of their own just and, you know, welcome to the world, baby Christian, but I own a full and pregnant and they continue to support her through that. And then they had to wear as injury and Karis Cairns injury. And, you know, there's just been thing after thing and they stayed so strong and resilient. And then what that does is it allows these wonderful little kind of nuggets of gold to emerge and Sammy, what a wonderful signing she's been after Stella getting injured last year. They've bought Sammy in pretty raw and she's been absolutely fantastic. And I think all eyes are on care of spin that young young lady is an absolute superstar of the future. And I'm pretty sure that there will be clubs looking at her and many others of the sirens are, you know, looking at what the future holds from next season. But I love all the clubs. Sirens is very special to me. But I love everyone and I love everyone's different stories. And I think I don't know if I spoke about this when I first started in the role. I've been part of the Super League for a long time. I've been on the board at the Super League. I know a lot of the people and the coaches and the players in there. But it wasn't until I started traveling around the country, literally did thousands and thousands of miles and spent time listening to the clubs, listening to their passion, their ambition, how they started their journeys, how they connect with the community, what's important to them, that you really get a deeper understanding of the personalities of these clubs and the people behind them. So I feel very privileged to do the role that I do and to be able to kind of almost mutually support everybody that's in this. And for me, it's made the best team win. And I just want to put on great events and bring fans along the journey with us. And Dragons as well. They've had a really good season. Obviously finishing eight, which is one of their better as a place in. And Georgia roll shot at something like 93%. Yeah, I do know it's one of the dragons are a team that I, despite where they finished, I feel like they finished higher in the table because they really did have a remarkable season. And, you know, again, hats off to Vicki Sutton. She's been on a mission for a couple of years and she's, you know, it's testament that dragons have been awarded a place in an SL 2.0, because she's been doing the work, you know, she's been doing the work. She's bringing new partners in, looking at their coaching set up, you know, strong with recruitment, bringing back the talented Welsh athletes, but strengthening that in and around them, being ambitious. Two games at a bigger venue, you know, filling the utility in Cardiff. So it's really nice that that's been reflected in some standout performances. And sometimes it's not about where you finish in the league. Sometimes it's about actually just being able to go out and go toe to toe with the best. And that meant helping us suppose. Yeah. And, you know, I was taught, I was reflecting on the siren season when we went behind closed doors and what was that, 21? In sirens became everyone's second favourite team. And, you know, again, we didn't necessarily win everything, but we pushed people. We got some of those wins over the line that we've been searching for for years, particularly it was special to get that first wasps win. And I was lucky enough to be there at the copper box. Everything had been behind closed doors. But actually what we love in this sport. And again, I'll keep going back to what 2.0 in the modelling around kind of the squad size and so on is about is creating competitive games. And what you want is to see draws. You want to see things go to the final whistle. You want to stay engaged. That's where fans feel like they're getting value for money with their tickets when they show up. That's where we can see viewing audiences, they're not switching off at half time because they know the result they're staying with us on that journey. And it's exciting. And although we've got a top four and although, you know, there's kind of some clear, stronger teams at this moment, what's definitely felt different this year is that almost kind of the sort of five, six teams that can almost take anyone on any day. And we've been really excited by watching those other games. And that for me, I think it's been a real success story for 24. Storm, team bath and sirens will be leaving the league. And maybe a word on their contribution to the season. Oh my goodness, I mean, it's not just the season. It's to the legacy of Super League. And each one has a different story to tell and plays a different role. I mean, you know, team bath that obviously at this moment in time, unless then to take a win and can equal it, but they've won the Super League five times. And they were really, they were that pedigree club where everyone started. And you can list off probably every legendary roses, coach and player. And they started at bath. So, you know, for them, it's been an amazing, you know, run through the Super League, but disappointing that they can't continue it yet. But as we've already talked to, we're going to be working with them and with the region to see what that future looks like in there. But they're just great people and they do a great job. And, you know, that's, I think when you think of team bath, you just think of that sort of stormwater of the Super League. Storm have gone on a real journey. And, you know, I think Mickey Austin's done a fantastic job. You know, look at the age that she was in the stage of her career to take on that. That head coaching role, she's been really brave and bold and a lot of her recruitment. You know, she puts herself out there on court. And I have to say the way she has handled that not being able to move forward with storm into the future. She's done it with class. She's been real. She's been, you know, she's shown her emotion and the love of what she does is absolutely apparent. But she's had a job to do and she's handled it with real class. And she gets the big picture and she gets the future of the sport. And I'm sure that it's not the last we've seen of Mickey Austin and the Super League. And, you know, of course, Sirens has been personally difficult. I watched that final game from afar to a couple of days to myself and sat crying watching it all because it hurts. And it's difficult. But I understand everybody's journeys in this. And as we've said with it, each club has had to think about can they be part of the future. And it's a real brave thing as well to say, like, we get what you're trying to do. But it's we're not able to be part of this at this point. And, you know, so there's this huge emotions for everybody when attached to all of this. But what I love is that those players have shown up on court. Those coaches have, you know, worn their hearts on their sleeves and they've fought for their fans and their players. Everybody has, you know, really done a great job of recognizing the journeys and the changes and where we're going and what's next. But everyone has also been really focused on the excitement of the future and what needs to happen. And we've all behind the scenes been working really, really hard and really closely to them sort of build this jigsaw puzzle of how these eight clubs now support the pathway. And we've got lots, lots more to announce around that and a lot of the answers that people are waiting for. But change is difficult and everyone's felt it. But I think what we've done is we've come through it really powerfully and really beautifully. And I am grateful to everybody, you know, who's just committed everything to this season and supports what's coming in the future, whether they're part of it or not. It's Nat Panagari. We'll get complaints just to prove we're unbiased. Hello everyone, my name is Hideen van der Berge and you are looking for the make-all show. Have you enjoyed seeing jeeva back? No, always. I'm always interested in seeing jeeva back. I enjoy more her Instagram. It's like, it's like reading heat magazines sometimes when you follow jeeva. I don't know if heat magazines still go and I'm probably showing my age there. Yeah, you know, and she came over because she backed some beliefs and what we're doing with Super League. And I'm really excited to know on Monday for signing window opens and you've got eight clubs there. It's kind of all sort of, how do I, how do I describe it? I keep saying open season, that sounds terrible. But it's like everyone's going to go and press a reset button. And of course there's going to be clubs that look familiar and want to build and what they've got. There's going to be a lot of change in that. And it's really exciting to see what that movement will be, not just potentially across our own clubs, but maybe also who heads over season, who comes back over here. So I know the coaches across the clubs and we've got more announcements around that are going to come as well. They're really thinking about how they can build their strongest team to, going back to what I talked about earlier, can create those compelling games. I said my ambition is that I would love to have eight clubs at the start of next season that say we want to win this and believe that they can and that we start to level that playing field. So every player in this, this league, I think we're really lucky as a sport that we just have great humans in it. You know, on and off the court and hopefully the grand final will be a celebration of all of that as well. Speaking of our grand final, how are tickets going? Obviously, it's really important that we get people in attendance to watch the game. And obviously have that great experience off court as well. Yeah, absolutely. I think we launched that we've broken our record weeks ago on this. So our grand finals just keep getting bigger and better. And that's fantastic for us. We always talk about we want to build, you know, an amazing event experience. And honestly, like we're going all out with sports, prize and experience. We've got collection, cosmetics we're partnering with. So girls bring an empty hand back to fill with those goodies. But yeah, we create an amazing event. And I think we've been doing that and building that over a number of years. And what this record breaking crowd just short of 9,000 says to us is that people want to show up for the big events. They want to show up for the great games. They will, you know, two games back to back is fantastic that, you know, Super League and England net will put on great live events. We know that that's what the broadcasters want to see. So yeah, really, really delighted. I was hoping we could get to 10,000. You never know if there's enough people listening to this that fancy a day out in the sun and come and watch some amazing netball in an amazing menu. Well, we know results world arena can put on massive events and netball games at this great scale down. We got sort of what happened at Birmingham 2022. That's exactly it. You know, we know that Birmingham 22 was that. I think it for me personally, even more than the World Cup, Birmingham 22, when we stood in results world and it's such a great arena. And we had, well, however many 9, 10,000 in there. And, you know, I think mystical DJ, mystical blue was playing and we had just lights and it was music and it was lights. And it was great LEDs and the teams got into it. And it was great on call action. And it was just simple sport, tame and done well around netball. And I was like, OK, this is it. This appeals like every one of every age and every gender and every background just got involved with the atmosphere and it was electric. And we sold what 160,000 tickets. It was one of the biggest events at the, you know, the Commonwealth Games. So to bring it back to Birmingham and to also, you know, we're launching a Birmingham based franchise now. They will be bringing their own major events to resorts world and utilitarian Birmingham. So it's really exciting and I'm actually really excited about just being there and seeing the netball and experience. And again, you know, I do have to props to our team because everyone is pulling out all the stops to make. And, you know, we're working this year. We're working with brand new sports prize company, ADI. And these guys are well classified. They're delivering Silverstone. They work across the biggest sports events. So what they've done for our experience and really elevating what netball is as a live experience is second to none. So I can't wait for you all to see it. If you can't be there, please be there. But you can't be there. Make sure you tune in because it's going to look fantastic. Tell me about the celebration of the season. That sounds special. Yeah. Well, I mean, we're always going to do that. We've got, we've got lots of things to celebrate. All of our teams, all of our players to tell the stories of the league. We've got a celebration of every champion that we've ever had in the Super League. So there's lots of, you know, team bath and baths and storm and thunder that I've won many times. But what we're trying to do is it's all about that grand final, right? We cannot take away from those teams who've done everything to get to that point. But it's also an absolute nod to the past and the journey so far because this grand final does reflect the culmination of Super League as we know it. And it is absolutely now the gateway into our next chapter, which is really big and bold and scary and wonderful and exciting. So we kind of, it's all things. It's the present. It's not the past and it's a look to the future. And hopefully we're going to make sure that we capture as much of that. We've invited lots of our legends back. A lot of those people who help set up the league and help set up the clubs and put in that time and put in the work because we can't step forward into the future and be ambitious and exciting without recognizing all the work of every person that's been part of this league for almost two decades and the journey that we've been on. So yeah, there'll be, I'm sure it'll be an emotional day. I think it's going to be really exciting and a big thank you and a huge celebration for everyone that's got us to this point. Moving forward, obviously, the aim is to build the most competitive commercially vibrant and captive in professional netball league in the world. I essentially just want to give you the chance to send a direct message to existence support as really. Yeah, well, everything we're doing is for the future of our sport. And, you know, we've said a million times and everyone, I think, recognizes we can't stay where we are because although I've talked really positively about the growth this season. It's not enough. We need to improve the product. We need to grow the game. We need to create a better pathway for our players and real careers. We need to enhance the pathway for our emerging talents so that they can succeed both domestically and on the world stage and we need to be able to drive greater commercial value to support that growth. So, you know, for everybody that supported us this season and all that growth in terms of, you know, increase in digital engagement and followers increasing in viewers across sky and BBC increasing fans and attendances that that needs to continue. And I recognize that there are fans who've been loyal to specific teams that aren't going to be able to support those teams moving forward and look at, as I said, I recognize how difficult that is honestly, I don't think, you know, I don't underestimate how much I felt this as much as everyone else but we, myself, England, netball, the clubs, the sport our partners would be doing our sport and our fans into service. If we didn't make some big bold decisions that would enable us to grow because through that growth and through the strengthened platform, it's going to enable us to offer more opportunities, whether that is as a fan or a player or a coach or administrator for everybody in the future. So that change is going to be difficult, but what I do hope that, you know, fans of players, fans of the sport, fans of the league, is that they continue to find a place in this new world that they can continue to follow the place that they've loved because those best players are going anywhere and the coaches that they've loved and that they can continue to follow us, we're going to make every single game accessible. So if you can travel and come to a big event, whether it's season opener or, you know, a big arena game, then do that and treat yourself to that layout, but otherwise you can watch everything and you can follow along, but we've got to build those fan bases and that's what we're doing with improving the product through 2.0 and props to the clubs that have been successful through that really challenging tender process. They were all pulling the stops out now for us to be able to deliver this amazing product for our fans and for our players of the future. Yeah, I appreciate that there's been some difficulties and some heartbreaks, but hopefully this time next year we're in a place where we can understand why those decisions have been made. And we can see that the sport is in a better place for it and that we can all go on this journey together moving forward. Claire, you're the right person to do it. Thank you so much for your time. Thanks for having me Andy. select states and we're on the podcast's rail. (whooshing)
We preview the 2024 NSL final with Claire Nelson who also reflects on last season.