Sport

You can watch the England Netball team take on Jamaica at the AO Arena later this year

They're helping kick off a brand-new international netball tournament.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 7th August 2024

A year on from making it to their first-ever Netball World Cup final, England’s national team are set to bring the buzz of a home crowd to Manchester’s AO Arena later this year.

Taking on Jamaica in November, England Netball – a.k.a. The Vitality Roses – will be helping kick off the brand-new Vitality Netball Horizon Series.

Marking the inaugural edition of the competition, the action will kick off with a pair of matches at the AO Arena before England travel to Jamaica for a further two games at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston.

Better yet, tickets for the fast-approaching fixtures go on sale this month.

As part of the new four-year tournament series between England and their Caribbean counterparts, there will be two games played in each country annually, and Manchester has been chosen as the city to get things started.

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With 0161’s own netball team Manchester Thunder being the second-most decorated club in the division, with four Super League titles to their name and having only narrowly missed out on a fifth to record-breaking Loughborough Lightning, it feels like the perfect fit.

As for the Jamaicans, commonly known as the ‘Sunshine Girls’ and currently ranked fourth in the world with a huge netball culture, they finished as bronze medallists in last year’s World Cup and will be looking to assert some pressure on the Roses over the course of this multi-year series.

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The first of two international meetings between England and Jamaica takes place on Saturday, 16 November, the second game taking place on the following Sunday.

The following double-header in Jamaica is scheduled for between 25-26 November, to reignite a long-standing rivalry in an exciting new format. You can watch what happened the last time the two sides met down below:

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Speaking in an official announcement, Vitality Roses Head Coach Jess Thirlby said: “We’re excited to introduce this new and innovative Vitality Netball Horizon Series against the Sunshine Girls into our international competition calendar.

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“Both nations have enjoyed success at recent major tournaments with Jamaica taking silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 and the Vitality Roses securing silver at the Netball World Cup in South Africa after making our first-ever World Cup final last summer.

The long and competitive history between us both, combined with a shared desire to shake up the world order makes for a tantalising match-up that fans can enjoy every year…

“We have enjoyed series wins at home against Jamaica in recent years which were over ten years in the making and always enjoy playing in these head-to-heads that deliver flamboyant, exciting netball and a showcase of high skill level from both sides. Here’s to more edge-of-your-seat netball as we embark on a new groundbreaking competition programme.”

Pre-sale access for the tournament is already live for England Netball members, who will receive an exclusive 10% discount, but general sale begins on Monday, 12 August from 10am.

You can be ready to buy your tickers for England Netball vs Jamaica at the AO Arena in Manchester HERE.

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Featured Images — paddynapper (via Flickr)/AO Arena/England Netball (supplied)

Sport

The annual Manchester Remembers Foundation charity football match has shut down

Danny Jones Danny Jones Manchester Remembers charity game 2025 cancelled

The annual Manchester Remembers charity football match has been cancelled for 2025, and unfortunately, the wider Foundation has also shut down for the foreseeable.

Set up back in 2020, the Manchester Remembers charity game was created to help raise funds for the families of those lost in the tragic 2017 Manchester Arena attack, raising nearly £200,000 in donations for multiple organisations.

It has been a truly treasured community event across Greater Manchester, welcoming thousands to the likes of Manchester City Academy Stadium and Oldham Athletic‘s Boundary Park, as well as spotlighting local musicians and notable figures volunteering their help for a deeply important cause.

However, the Foundation is now set to hang up its boots. Confirming the news over the bank holiday weekend, founders Aaron Lee and Paul Corrigan shared “a difficult statement to make and a decision not taken lightly.”

As explained in the lengthy and emotional post, it is with a “heavy heart” that this year’s charity match has now been officially cancelled, and tickets already purchased up to this point are now being refunded.

Having played a small part in helping spread awareness around the game and the Foundation since it began, we were gutted to learn of this sad news.

The 2025 MCR Remembers game was scheduled to take place this June at a new venue for the event, Bury FC’s home ground at Gigg Lane, but following what they have labelled “a lack of support” from Greater Manchester leaders and “influential people needed to carry the event forward.”

Lee – a former police officer turned firefighter who was one of the emergency responders on 22 May, 2017 – went on to share a follow-up video reflecting on the announcement.

As he puts in the piece to camera, he says that even if those who had been reached out to in recent times were to suddenly respond, that it is “sadly too late.”

Taking time to thank not only past sponsors, managers, ex-pros and celebrity players who have been part of the event in the past, but everyone who bought tickets to the event(s) over the past few years, stating simply: “We cant thank you enough.”

Lee, who was given both a Chief Fire Officers Commendation and British Citizen Award in 2024, went on to address those “so-called leaders and influential people” in a subsequent post, adding: “All we needed was a bit of help. But we were ignored. Thanks for the memories.”

Unsurprisingly, the comments on social media have been awash with messages of love, support and sadness upon learning of this year’s cancellation and the end of The Manchester Remembers Foundation after more than half a decade.

There is some hope, though, as he ends the video by saying, “Who knows if this is the end or not? […] I dare say we’ll be back at some point.” We can only keep our fingers crossed he’s right and the MCR Remembers charity game won’t be shut down for good.

Manchester will always remember.

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Featured Images — The Manc Group/Manchester Remembers Foundation

Sport

25,000 free footballs are being given away across the UK

Danny Jones Danny Jones Barlcays bank giving 1000 free football across the UK

A total of 25,000 free footballs are up for grabs this month as part of a new scheme from Barclays, who are giving them away to mark a special anniversary.

The British multinational universal bank, which boasts over 850 branches and more than 48 million customers worldwide, has been supporting the beautiful game for a quarter of a century now and has been the primary Premier League sponsor since the 2001/02 season.

Approaching 25 years helping fund and promote English football, they’ve come up with a new initiative to celebrate, simply called the ‘Lost Ball Project‘.

We’ve all seen scenes like these before.

barclays free footballs
lost ball project
Credit: Barclays (supplied)

Tapping into the national and generational memory of losing a ball to a pond, up a tree, over a fence or on a roof and so on, Barclays are making up for those heartbreaking little losses – one ball at a time.

Lost Ball will see the bank give away 25k footballs across the UK, with Barclays customers able to claim a free ball for themselves or someone else who has lost theirs.

Already up and running, the scheme is off to a flyer and free footies will be available until Thursday, 22 May, so we wouldn’t wait around.

The bank has played an integral role throughout the British football pyramid for decades now, sponsoring to only the Premier League but also the WSL, Barclays Women’s Championship; the Northern Irish Women’s Football Association, Scottish Women’s Championship and the Scottish Women’s League One

They’ve even put together this emotive, albeit a bit tongue-in-cheek video:

Excellent song choice.

As they put it, the mission of the Lost Ball Project is simple: “Let’s keep the nation playing the beautiful game. Because there’s no football without grassroots football.”

In addition to backing established leagues, they have continued to support the country’s footballing community at large, especially in terms of the women’s game.

For instance, the Barclays Girls’ Football School partnership with The FA has seen the number of participating schools rise from 3,000 in 2019 to 20,000 in 2024, helping more than 2.5 million schoolgirls access football.

Important work done from the ground up.

Credit: Supplied

Barclays’ Group Head of Sponsorship, Tom Corbett, said in a statement: “We are immensely proud of our pioneering work and funding to grassroots football over the past 25 years.

Giving away 25,000 balls to replace our customers’ ‘Lost Balls’ means they will never be without the one thing you need to be able to play the game we’ve supported at Barclays for all these years.”

If you bank with the group, you can find out how to claim your free football HERE.

We quite fancy a kick around now.

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Featured Images — Barclays (supplied)

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