The England Netball team are returning to Manchester city centre for another big international tie at the AO Arena.
With two more tournaments on the horizon, the Vitality Roses will be hitting the road once again to play a trio of matches between two old Imperial nations ahead of the 23rd edition Commonwealth Games getting underway next summer.
As part of the 2025 Vitality International Test Series, England will be facing back-to-back face-offs with New Zealand over the course of less than a week at two different venues, and one of them is our very own AO Arena.
While the final details and timings are still subject to change, the Roses will face NZ – currently the second best rated team on the planet – later this year.
Taking place this winter and spread across the span of four days, England are set for a weekend double-header at the Copperbox Arena in London (15-16 November), before heading up North to 0161 on Wednesday, 19 November for the closer in Manchester.
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Currently ranked fourth themselves in the World Netball world rankings, England enter these series following a successful international season last term, which saw them lift their inaugural Vitality Netball Nations Cup, beating current world number ones Australia for just the third time in history.
The games against the ‘Silver Ferns’ will also serve as a rigorous rehearsal for the second annual Vitality Netball Horizon Series, where they’ll play four more games with Jamaica; a pair will be held at the Coppebox and the final two will be played away in Kingston.
Last year’s tournament came to the AO as well, with England losing to the Jamaicans by 61-53 in the decisive match. Safe to say there are scores to be settled, and they will be even more prepared for the multiple rematches.
A Nations Cup to their name will certainly help boost confidence.
Jess Thirlby, head coach of the Vitality Roses, is already getting hyped up ahead of the competition.
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“Securing high-level, high-intensity series against the world’s best teams is always top of the agenda, not least as we build towards a back-to-back major tournament year with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2026 and the Netball World Cup in Sydney in 2027 just around the corner.
“We have both a long-standing rivalry with Jamaica, which we saw the renewal of last year in the hotly contested Vitality Netball Horizon Series, and a more recent competitive rivalry between ourselves and the Silver Ferns, serving up many tight contests.
“Both series will help test us and enhance our preparations for 2026, whilst also allowing our athletes to make their mark in front of our incredible fans.”
VITALITY INTERNATIONAL SERIES 🏀 ROSES VS SILVER FERNS!
Presale tickets will be available to Three+ mobile members from 10am on Tuesday, 5 August, via the venue’s own early access window from the same time on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, general admission goes live from Thursday, 7 August, with tickets once again for what is set to be an exciting day of family-friendly sporting action available from 10am.
Featured Images — Press images/AO Arena (supplied)
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Bernardo Silva shares hilarious X-rated clash with John Stones before they were teammates
Danny Jones
This long weekend not only saw Man City manager and sporting legend Pep Guardiola bid goodbye to the club after a decade, but so did John Stones and Bernardo Silva, and the latter shared a hilarious story about an encounter before their bromance in blue.
Can’t lie, this one nearly made us spit out our tea when we first watched it…
Following the trio’s respective final games, this late May bank holiday Monday saw yet another City parade pass through Manchester, and as the party continued over at the Etihad Campus and Co-op Live for the afterparty, the boys got up on stage to say some parting words.
In Silva’s case, he chose to share, rather fittingly, some very choice words indeed, as he talked about his time playing against Stones when he was still in France.
From ‘little soft c**t’ to brothers lifting trebles together… football heritage.
Safe to say no one was expecting that particular expletive to come out of his mouth – we reckon not even most of the squad themselves.
During the Yorkshireman‘s first season at Manchester City, he came up against the creative midfielder in the Champions League when he was still playing at Ligue 1 side AS Monaco.
As you can see in the clip above, while it wasn’t the friendliest of exchanges back then, they soon buried the hatchet and chalked it off as nothing more than football.
Both fierce competitors in their own right, they look to be plenty soft with each other off the pitch ever since they became teammates.
So much so, in fact, that the duo ended up being the face of a pop-up Man City pub earlier this month, recreating the famous photo of the Gallagher brothers wearing the 1993/94 kits.
Credit: Manchester City FC (publicity pictures)
It’s plain to see in the clip how much love there is between the two, all these years later, and the story itself got a rapturous reaction from their peers and the crowd alike.
Silva has plenty of fans across Europe, both as a player and purely as a character; you only have to look at how Jack Grealish often reiterates his love for the Portuguese playmaker as a person and Premier League character, or even how pundits aligned with rival clubs like Gary Neville waxes lyrical about him.
And then we come to Pep himself.
Guardiola was rightfully given a fantastic guard of honour at the stadium itself on Sunday, with his speech making for an emotional moment for all those in the stands and watching at home, and City supporters at the parade made sure to give him a proper send-off.
Featured Images — Manchester City FC/CITY+ (screenshot via YouTube)
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Manchester’s The Grosvenor pub set to host huge England fan zone with Fireball for 2026 World Cup
Danny Jones
With the 2026 World Cup fast approaching, there’ll obviously be tonnes of places showing the game, but there’s only one place that’s promising big screens, ball pits, pool tables, ping pong, a ‘peep show’ and plenty more right from the off: The Grosvenor.
It doesn’t hurt that they’re teaming up with beloved booze brand Fireball to spice things up.
We hope the goals come easily for England this tournament, but we can assure the drinks will be free-flowing regardless, over at The Grosvenor on Oxford Road Corridor here in Manchester city centre.
Located just on the corner of (you guessed it) Grosvenor St and the busy Oxford Rd stretch, they’re already getting geared up for tournament time…
Teaming up with the famous cinnamon whisky liqueur, the popular student and matchday spot is set to be busier than ever for this year’s World Cup.
As for what they have in store for the North American edition of FIFA’s biggest competition and the ultimate celebration of the beautiful game, besides numerous England flags hanging from the walls and that beautiful ceiling, there’ll be plenty of music, England anthems, giveaways and top-tier atmosphere.
In addition to lots of chanting from yourselves, no doubt, there’ll be DJ sets and merch up for grabs, as well as lots of big wigs, St George’s glasses and foam hands floating around the room.
Credit: The Grosvenor (supplied)
Of course, there will also be wall-to-wall coverage of the games across their many screens around the venue, not least of all the big box sitting pride of place above the bar itself.
With two large floors and more intimate seating options upstairs, there are plenty of ways to watch Thomas Tuchel’s team fly the flag.
Kicking off with the Three Lions’ opening clash against Croatia on Wednesday, 17 June, the venue will be transformed into a sea of red and white, and guests will also be treated to a completely FREE shot of Fireball every single time England score.
Don’t mind if we do.
Naturally, with stuff like this on offer, fans are encouraged to grab their tickets for the fixtures as early as possible so as not to miss out.
In their words AND ours, “From the first whistle to the final anthem, The Grosvenor is set to become one of Manchester’s home ends for the World Cup.”
You can reserve your tickets from just £3 for The Grosvenor Fireball Fanzone – along with plenty of cheap pints and affordable food and drink packages – right HERE.
(Don’t say, don’t say it, don’t say it) It’s coming home…
Danny Jones -
29th July 2025 
