#nsl2024 Bath 50 – Sirens 57

Sirens secure their first win all season denying Bath a final home game win

The game was streamed live via Team Bath – your in for a treat – picture quality is some of the best we have seen all season

Nineteen years after first blazing a Blue and Gold trail for elite netball in the UK, Team Bath tonight played their last-ever Super League home match on an evening of high emotion at the Team Bath Arena.

There was to be no final win to mark the occasion, visitors Strathclyde Sirens – themselves nearing the end of their Super League journey – winning the last quarter to secure their first victory of the 2024 season.

That did not stop a sell-out crowd of 1,750 fans raising the roof throughout the game and giving the home players an incredible standing ovation on the final buzzer.

An evening that started with both sets of players being greeted by fireworks as they took to the court, as well as the Team Bath support staff and training partners, ended with tears on court and in the stands following moving addresses to the crowd from Head Coach Asha Francis and captain Bethan Dyke.

After wishing Sirens’ players and staff well for the future, Francis thanked Team Bath’s team behind the team – including the volunteers who have made the match-day experience so memorable over the years – before speaking to the fans directly.

“I really appreciate every single one of you,” she said. “To all of you who have supported us through the good, the bad, the highs and the lows, we definitely couldn’t have done any of this without you and we are so, so grateful to have the best fans in the league.

“We really hope that, despite the decision that has been made, you continue to watch netball and that netball will still thrive in the South West, and we will come back bigger and stronger.”

Dyke added: “Devastation and shock are the only words I can use to describe the last few days. Team Bath has been a shining light since the beginning of the Super League and led from the front as a world-class franchise both on and off court.

“I remember my debut season and taking on Team Bath in the 2013 Grand Final [with Celtic Dragons], looking up to so many incredible role models on the court. Wearing the Blue and Gold has been a dream and to captain this incredible group of women this season has been an absolute honour.

“Team Bath is more than a franchise, it is a community and a family that is far bigger than just the game. To be a small part of this club has been a massive priviledge

A host of Team Bath players and coaches from the past were among the capacity crowd including Anna Stembridge, Eboni Usoro-Brown, Rachel Dunn, Imogen Allison, Mia Ritchie, Laura Rudland and Amanda Varey.
Image: Bob Bradford