"When I was the Roses coach, the first thing I wanted to do, the biggest change I wanted to make, along with my bosses, was that we wanted to try to professionalise the sport and get girls on central contracts," Neville refects.Įngland head coach Tracey Neville reacts during the 2015 Netball World Cup match between England and Jamaica (Image: Matt King/Getty Images) England's history-making triumph to win gold had been a product of Neville's vision for netball and her determination to overcome obstacles. The Roses reached their first Commonwealth final that year and they faced Australia on the Gold Coast in the final. England won bronze at the 2015 Netball World Cup and Neville was awarded an MBE at the end of the year for her services to netball, however, her crowning moment would come at the 2018 Commonwealth Games when she inspired England to create history. She didn't need long to make an impact, either. She had unfinished business at international level and she was keen to take the sport into a new era while her vast knowledge and experience made her an invaluable asset on and off the court. Tracey Neville receives her MBE (Image: WPA Pool/Getty Images)Īfter impressing in her first coaching positions with Team Northumbria and Manchester Thunder, Neville would become England's head coach in 2015. Although Neville made a comeback during the 2006/07 season, she eventually decided to put her playing days behind her. Neville returned to British shores and had spells with Northern Thunder and Leeds Carnegie before sustaining a serious knee injury in 2004. "Tracey was very popular with fellow players and supporters, and she brought a new professionalism and enthusiasm to the club," a dated Contax report claims Neville's hard work and determination was providing her with exciting opportunities and led her to Australia playing for the Adelaide Thunderbirds and for Contax - Neville won silverware at the latter. "If all my life had just been about netball, I think I would have really suffered mentally and I really needed that avenue, to mix into different environments, when things weren’t going well, I really needed something else to take that pressure away from me." But when I look back over that now, that actually benefited me hugely mentally and physically. Did they work hard? They worked extremely hard to get to where they are, but what I had to do, I had to have a lot of add on to that. "Financially I was still trying to earn an income, I was one of the first athletes to actually get on the Sport England funding, but again, that was only £742 per month. "Of course I had to work harder, I had to do my training before and after work," Neville recalls. In the same year, her brothers won the Premier League title with United and, while that was the end result for all three children who had refused to relent in the pursuit of their respective sporting careers, Neville admits that she had to work harder for it. Tracey Neville playing for England in New Zealand in 2003 (Image: Michael Bradley/Getty Images) Neville won go on to earn 81 caps for England between 1992-2008 and she played an instrumental role in winning England's first netball medal at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, which was arguably the pinnacle of her playing career.
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She began her career at YWCA Bury in Greater Manchester and progressed to represent England at under-18 and under-21 levels before she eventually made her full senior debut for her nation. Those obstacles wouldn't be enough to stifle Neville's rise.
"The inequalities are still there, they’re probably not as apparent now as they were back then."
We had lots of girls within my team - it happens even now - where they’re holding full-time jobs as well as trying to play in a semi-professional environment and train like elite athletes. "I had to pay to play at international level, we didn’t get the opportunities, there weren’t crowds within our venues, so if you talk about equal opportunities, it was very difficult. I had to pay to play netball," Neville recalls.
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As all three of the Neville children began to grow up, Phil and Gary signed professional contracts with Manchester United while Tracey pursued her career in netball.
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Everyone on TV was male, all the pundits were male, all the players were male."Īlthough Britain was governed by a female Prime Minister throughout Neville's most formative years, institutional sexism remained a problem. "There weren’t female role models, either. "People ask me would I have been a footballer? I don’t think I actually would have because those environments were really intimidating back then and they weren’t any females present in those environments. Tracey Neville is interviewed on Sky Sports (Image: Getty Images for England Netball)