#13 Opening Ceremony

I’m writing this on the way back from Liverpool where I’ve spent a mad, but awesome, 24 hours and to be honest may be a little bleary eyed!

I always knew that the netball community would be on fine form at the Netball World Cup 2019. We’ve had a long time to look forward to it and obviously the Commonwealth Gold added to the anticipation! 

The atmosphere in the stadium, in the fan zone and around the city was phenomenal - you can spot a Netballer a mile off and everyone was laughing, smiling and chatting away like they’d known each other for years! We made friends with some Aussies from Queensland in the toilet queue, couldn’t walk more than 10 paces in the stadium without bumping into someone we knew and even Irene Van Dyke stopped for a chat! (Absolutely made my day.....week......year!) 

I’m not going to lie I was too busy catching up with old colleagues (#NDCClove) to see the full Opening Ceremony! When we did get there, after finding the Prosecco bar of course, the show looked great and only added to the anticipation of it all!

Jamaica v Fiji was first up and wasn’t quite as one sided as the score line suggests. (85-29) There were a lot of mistakes from Jamaica and, in my opinion, looked very beatable! (Perhaps that’s just wishful thinking!) I realise though that they also wouldn’t have come out of first gear! 

I will admit to having a quick wander to the other end of the stadium to Court 2 when Sigi Burger came on for South Africa v Trinidad & Tobago. Sigi is a bit of a favourite and it was great to see her represent after being bought into the SA squad late on. 

The real highlight though was England v Uganda - the roar from the crowd when the Roses came on Court was spine tingling! Literally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. 

Specially mention to the 20 or so Ugandan fans sat behind the goal. They did not stop singing from starting to finishing whistle! 

I am looking forward to rewatching the match - especially the sending off of the Uganda Centre. It was an interesting one in the stadium as we obviously can’t hear the umpires - although their body
language said it all! 

When the offending player eventually went to the bench for the second time, she was high fived by the whole of the coaching bench. Rather than this being a malicious action I think this showed Uganda’s naivety at this level. It was a shame really that the sending off happened.  Not that I’m condoning any poor behaviour on court, of course. 

I was pleased for Jo Harten that not only did she receive her 100th Cap, the response from the crowd was amazing. I imagine she will never forget that. I do think that as an organisation we need to be better at recognising such achievements. She is a truly remarkable ambassador for netball with a global reach. 

So, that was my first experience of Liverpool World Cup 2019. Other observations include

- shout out to the Prosecco girls at the stadium. They worked bloody hard and it wouldn’t surprise me if we go back next week and there were a few more Prosecco bars popped up! Know your audience M&S Arena!
- Zimbabwe are staying in our hotel and we really need to find out when they have breakfast so we go at a different time. They seem to have a small army with them!
- Pivoteers are immense, all of them were in great spirits & definitely added to the sense of occasion. They deserve more than an afterthought page 96 in the official programme though!
- M&S arena is an awesome place to watch netball! From what I could see there is not a ‘bad’ seat in the house. We also have lots more healthy options food wise than other netball venues. Copper Box is a particular eye roller!

Anyway, back to reality, fighting my toddler for the remote so I can watch England v Scotland rather than Mr Tumble! Can’t wait until Friday when I’m back in Liverpool for finals weekend!