Team Northumbria (netball)
Team Northumbria is an English netball team based at Northumbria University. Between 2001 and 2005 they played in the Super Cup as Northern Flames. They also played as Team Northumbria Flames. Between 2005–06 and 2018, their senior team played in the Netball Superleague. The netball team is one of several sports teams based at Northumbria University that use the Team Northumbria brand name. Others include an association football team and a basketball team. In 2018 Northumbria University announced it was withdrawing seven of its national league sports teams due to cuts to its elite sport programme. This included Team Northumbria withdrawing from the Netball Superleague.
History
Northern Flames
Between 2001 and 2005, Northern Flames, together with five other franchises – London Hurricanes, London Tornadoes, Team Bath Force, University of Birmingham Blaze and Northern Thunder – competed in the Super Cup. By 2005 Northern Flames had become Team Northumbria Flames.Early Superleague seasons
In 2005 Team Northumbria were named as the North East England franchise in the new Netball Superleague. Together with Brunel Hurricanes, Celtic Dragons, Leeds Carnegie, Galleria Mavericks, Northern Thunder, Loughborough Lightning and Team Bath, Team Northumbria were founder members of the league. Team Northumbria's best performance in the Netball Superleague came in 2007–08 when, with a team that included Megan Hutton, they finished second during the regular season, behind Loughborough Lightning, and qualified for the play-offs.Future England national netball team manager, Tracey Neville began her senior coaching career with Team Northumbria when she served as head coach for the 2011 Netball Superleague season.