Staff writer Salomé West explores the culture and dynamics of netball as a sport.
With varsity sporting events quickly approaching, a certain excitement looms over King’s as sports clubs tantalise Instagram followers with team lineups and ticket sales. Hundreds of UCL and KCL students eagerly await football and rugby’s kickoff, shouting profanities and berating the opposition.
The London Varsity Series between the two schools is a century-old tradition, with the rivalry dating back to 1826, permeating everyday student life. KCL Netball bleeds red while GKT Netball bleeds blue; the two clubs often compete for internal university gains; however, Varsity unites them in mutual distaste of UCL, medics or otherwise.
All major sporting events have both a men’s and a women’s side – yet, Netball only pertains to female teams: with an estimated 3 million women and girls playing annually in the UK alone, Netball is the largest women’s team sport in the country.
So why is it that male-dominated sports like rugby and football are able to generate 3 times the attention, tickets and crowds as female-dominated sports like Netball? Even in locally-based Varsity competitions?
Despite Netball subjugating the female sports world, the politics of the sport are more complex, going all the way back to grassroots, where little girls, as young as 8, begin their netball career. There are two key points of contention that I see to dictate Netball’s struggle, both of which are concomitantly linked to the nature of Netball as a sport, and also to socio-political ideologies that tyrannise sport as a male field.
From the age of 8, young girls are taught that Netball is: fun, inclusive and safe – wiring aspiring sportswomen in an emancipatory manner to that of male athletes – in which resilience, hard-work and toughness are ingrained from the minute they step foot on the pitch. Netball management and administration, from coaching to umpiring, fosters fragile netballers; from far-too lenient coaches to ridiculously strict refereeing. Young sportswomen are not only conditioned to expect: game time, mistakes without consequences and low effort that’s not monitored. A highly rigid – at times almost absurd – playing environment is facilitated by umpires whose strict ruling allows for little to no contest, the spectacle that attracts people to sport.
We cannot possibly blame female Netball athletes for potentially being less resilient and more sensitive – how can we when male-dominated sports are trained under tougher, harsher and ‘cut-throat’ climates? It is the fault of our own socio-political normativities that women are treated differently from men, and as a result, female athletes often cannot succeed in such competitive environments.
Netball is set up in such a way that its cliquey politics often outweigh genuine athleticism and competition. Its talent scouting processes are abysmal when compared to those of football or other male-dominated sports – I cannot imagine a high-level Netball coach or official attending a local club match in pursuit of unfound or potential natural ability. However, Netball often favours nepotism, most commonly through franchise involvement, such as Mavericks or Pulse pathways in London.
Unfortunately, Netball itself is a not-for-profit organisation, rarely making enough money to allow its athletes to focus solely on the sport. Netballers commonly “work alongside their training.” Female athletes who compete at international and Superleague levels and train hard every day for Netball do not get paid anywhere near what a Footballer or Basketballer may produce annually. In the Australian superleague the average“potential salary” is GBP 46,000; compared to that of the English Premier League, which would average at GBP 3 million.
But how does all of this infiltrate university sport? And what does Varsity have to do with it? Unfortunately, even in competitive university sport, a resonating culture is perpetuated of male athletic superiority, especially over Netball, which does not have any male teams. Indirect misogyny pervades University sports culture, with sly commentary and strange social media posts. Walking through big events like Macadam, you’ll often hear “we are here for the football” – prioritising a male-dominated sport over something ‘trivial’ like Netball.
GKT Netball has won Varsity against RUMS UCL Medics the past four years in a row, and is well on track to win again in the upcoming match for 2026, aiming to claim the title for the fifth year consecutively. Captain Amelia Sampson says “we have one of the best line-ups we’ve had in years” and that she and the team are “really excited to take the win.” Confidence is not so high on KCL Netball’s side of things, with a significant loss to UCL 1’s last year, we can all agree that an underdog victory is the best kind and will remain hopeful for their success.
On the greener side of the grass, Netball communities worldwide are growing, and respect for the game is too. On a University level, perhaps this starts with more joint socials, encouragement to attend games and buy tickets and perhaps starting a mixed or men’s team.
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