Netball Super League | World comes together for British Fast5 All-Stars

Each year, the British Fast5 All-Stars showcases the global nature of the sport with more and more nations being represented at the event.

This year was no different as a variety of different nations and continents were on show at the Copper Box Arena last weekend.

A pulsating day of netball saw Loughborough Lightning regain their Fast5 title and some of the world’s best players take to court.

Eleven different nations on show at Fast5

The top eight teams from the 2019 Vitality Netball Superleague season brought a total 80 top-class netballers with them to London.

With the option of including two All-Stars, each squad harboured a wealth of talent from a host of different countries.

In total, 11 different nations and four separate continents were represented at Fast5 last weekend.

As expected, the overriding nation on show was England. A total of 52 Englishwomen were included in the squads with many giving the sell-out crowd plenty to shout about.

Vitality Roses such as Rachel Dunn and Jo Harten bagged a large number of points for Wasps and Lightning respectively while Celtic Dragons’ Lucy Herdman also heavily impressed.

Nothing but net 🗑@celtic_dragons dispatch @SaracensMavs (38-29) and march on to the semi-finals where they’ll face @LboroLightning ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/IvUy0CThkp

— Vitality NetballSL (@NetballSL) October 12, 2019

There were also a number of players from other areas of Great Britain. Northern Ireland (three), Scotland (one) and Wales (seven) were all represented to varying degrees.

African teams helped to light up the Vitality Netball World Cup and there were four individuals from the continent at the Copper Box. The majority came from Malawi (three), including the clinical Joyce Mvula, while the other – Leana de Bruin – was born in South Africa but did switch elegance to New Zealand during her career.

Oceania had four of their 14 nations on display in the form of Samoa (one), Fiji (one), Australia (five) and New Zealand (four).

Severn Stars most diverse

Some were more diverse than others with some having five different nationalities in their ranks while others held just two in their squad.

Severn Stars were the most diverse teams at the tournament as they heralded players from five countries. Stars had the likes of Tuaine Keenan (New Zealand), Ella Powell-Davies (England), Nia Jones (Wales), Leana de Bruin (South Africa) and Alyssa-Jean Savelio (Samoa) in their team.

Team Bath and Manchester Thunder had four different nations while Celtic Dragons, Saracens Mavericks, Loughborough Lightning and Surrey Storm had three each. Wasps Netball, meanwhile, had two in the form of England and New Zealand.

If you loved seeing all the action at the British Fast5 All-Stars, make sure you’ve secured your tickets for the Vitality Netball Superleague Season Opener 2020 – buy tickets now!

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