The 2021/22 Netball team

Sports: Report - Netball 2021/22

Merton netball team, having been formed in Trinity term 2021, had a great entry into the proper netball league this year. Being a new team, we entered the league in Michaelmas in Division 5. We had some great players show up (despite some injuries throughout the term) and managed to win six out of eight of our games to come second in the league (we were aided by some teams failing to turn up). Some highlights included the match against Linacre where we managed to get a score of 23-3 as well as against Brasenose and St Benet’s where we won both matches with scores of 11-2 and 8-2 respectively. Despite some initial mathematical errors by the league giving us false hope of coming first in the division, we managed to secure second place overall, just missing out on promotion but feeling pretty confident going into the Hilary league.

With our close loss in Michaelmas, going into Hilary we were determined to secure a promotion into Division 4. We got off to a great start winning 15-9 against Keble, the team we were expecting to be our closest rival through the term. We managed to keep up our momentum throughout the term, securing a season where we were unbeaten as a team although ending it on a draw with Univ in a tough game where we were neck and neck throughout. Despite this tense end to the season we managed to secure our position as first in the division and won promotion to Division 4.

I’d like to give a special shout out to the following who were all nominated player of the match at some point across the year: Emily Jones (2020) and Eppie Sharp (2018) whose shooting was always on point, and Ellie Owen (2020) consistently coming out of nowhere with some incredible interceptions. Also, a shout out to Evie McGrory, Imogen Walsh, Nikita Nunes and Jess Hancock (all 2020) for being our most committed second years as well as Hajrah Hafeez, Eleanor Clark and Eleanor Bogie (all 2021), our newest members who were so committed throughout the year. The one-off appearances of Benedict Yorston (2019), Fergus Waterhouse (2019) and Kieran Wetherick (2020) as well as Declan Nelson’s (2020) commitment to the club being a lastminute sub on multiple occasions (one time even showing up in chinos) should also be noted – it’s great to have such diversity of involvement in the club!

However, it hasn’t just been a term of serious competition and we have also taken on some more light-hearted competition this year. In Hilary we entered into the Pink Week Tournament and despite only managing to field two players, managed to team up with Oriel to secure victory with our very own Ellie Owen securing Player of the Tournament too! We also played against Peterhouse, Cambridge at the Peterhouse v Merton sports day in a very tough match and just about managed to maintain our unbeaten streak by getting a draw of 11-11. In Trinity our netballing has been somewhat minimal but we did have a great turnout in the Merton–Mansfield derby at Sports Day. In this tough grudge match (which definitely questioned the title of netball being a ‘non-contact sport’) we unfortunately lost out to our long-time rivals but persevered and showed our strength as a team.

Overall, it’s been a great year for Merton netball and hopefully we’ll carry this year’s success into Michaelmas. Good luck to our new captains Eleanor Bogie and Eleanor Clark. 

Vicki Moon (2020)
Netball Captain 2021-22