Dragons: A History

As Dragons remove “Cardiff” from their name we take a look back of the history of Wales’ NSL team over the years and it’s changes.

Dragons are THE Welsh netball team based in Cardiff. Their senior team plays in the Netball Superleague. In the 2005–06 season, in which they took part as Celtic Dragons, they were founder members of the league.

Their best performance in the Superleague came in 2013 when they finished as runners up to Team Bath. Playing as Celtic Flames, Dragons also played in the 2017 Netball New Zealand Super Club.

The team changed its name from Celtic Dragons to Cardiff Dragons on 31 August 2023 in preparation for the 2024 season. Ahead of the 2026 season they removed “Cardiff” from their name and left it until the very last opporunity to announce their team for 2026.

History
Formed in 2005 they were part of the new Netball Superleague where they took part alongside Brunel Hurricanes, Galleria Mavericks, Leeds Carnegie, Loughborough Lightning, Northern Thunder, Team Bath and Team Northumbria,

Netball Superleague Grand Finals
2013 Team Bath 62–56 Celtic Dragons University of Worcester Arena

Home venue
Dragons’ current home venue is the Cardiff City House of Sport, located adjacent to the Cardiff City Stadium, having moved to the 1100-seat venue in 2022. Until 2022 Dragons played the majority of their home Netball Superleague games at Sport Wales National Centre in Sophia Gardens. 2025 saw games played at the Cardiff Arena and for the 2026 it has also been confirmed that several games will take place at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Key Internationals
Wales
Suzy Drane
Bethan Dyke
Nia Jones
Chelsea Lewis
Nicola Lewis
Anna Mayes

England
Rachel Dunn
Lindsay Keable

Fiji
Adi Bolakoro
Episake Kahatoka
Afa Rusivakula

Jamaica
Rebekah Robinson

Head coaches have included Jess Garland, Anna Mayes, Melissa Hyndman, Trish Wilcox, Julie Hoornweg and Tania Hoffman. The team are currently coached by Reinga Bloxham

Honours
2013 Netball Superleague Runners Up