J
ade Clarke has been there, seen it and done it. England’s most-capped netballer and the midcourter made her debut in 2002 and has also appeared at five World Cups for her country, while also playing in Australia and New Zealand domestically, where she picked up the Mainland Tactix’s Player of the Year in 2013. Here LK catches up with her…
What’s it like being the home team?
Really special: there’s nothing like putting on the red dress in front of a home crowd! The home World Cup in Liverpool was special. We just lost to New Zealand in the semi -finals, we came out for the third-place play-off and the crowd went mad. This lifted our spirits after such a disappointing loss. This shows the power a crowd has and how they can lift players.
What was the key to defending your title?
The belief in the whole squad. Experience is key but it’s always great to have fresh and fearless rookies. Early memories and hopes for netball… My first memory of watching netball was the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, 2002. The sport has come such a long way in the last two decades and it’s amazing that 20 years later we’ve got another home Games and we have a great chance of winning . Same for the league. We’ve got thousands of new fans but when I was younger it was just county netball where your family would watch you on an outside court. The sport has come such a long way in 20 years.
What do you think is the biggest barrier to driving the visibility of women’s sport?
I think a barrier to women’s sport is how much it is shown on TV: there is a massive gap. Along with that, being able to show our personalities and not just the game.
I think we should have a lot more around to be able to show off who we are as people – when you connect with players, you want to watch them on TV and go and see them, and I think that this is something we can really improve on.
Have you faced challenges being a woman in sport, and how have you overcome them?
I think with netball in particular, getting over that it might be seen as a schoolgirl sport and that it is not seen as something professional to carry on after finishing school, is something that collectively – all the players and all the fans – have fought really hard to change.
As players it is a constant battle that you really have to show your success until people will take notice, so it really took until the 2018 Commonwealth Games until we got quite a lot of media attention.
I think that you have to keep working hard to be successful to make people notice. I enjoy challenges, and think that you have to keep going and not give up.
Is netball in a healthy state?
Definitely and it’s down to the fans – they’re always wanting to see more and play more. They’ve really responded to the success from the Roses and that has helped inspire more people.
Where do you see netball, in 10 years from now?
In 10 years time for netball, I would love there to be a fully professional league in the UK, and to see other players from Australia and New Zealand fighting to come and play in our league. I’d like to see every game televised and on YouTube; I’d love every game to be able to be shown to the public. And more household names. We’ve got Helen Housby, so I’d like more Helen Housbys that people can look at, and think “I want to be like them”.
Pick three inspirational women as dream dinner guests
Definitely has to be strong women in sport! It would have to be Kelly Holmes, Sally Gunnell and Steffi Graf.
