'It’s an absolutely massive deal for us,' - from the ashes of Yorkshire Jets to Leeds Rhinos taking netball into a professional future

It was June, 2016, and this volunteer-led operation had enjoyed two years in Super League. But when England Netball ordered a restructure, they were left behind.

“At the time we thought we were doing a great job and probably were,” recalls Pexton.

“So when the news came it was awful. We actually found out via a leak from England Netball, so as well as disappointment and frustration at the actual news, we also felt disrespected because the comms hadn’t been handled well - so there was anger.”

Instead of dwelling on it, letting anger fester and a sense of entitlement grow, Pexton and her band of netball-loving volunteers did something about it.

“You’ve got to roll with the punches and process your feelings, but do that in a way from which you can ride the next wave,” she says. “Ask yourself ‘am I still committed to this? If so, what am I going to do about it?’

“We knew we had strength in terms of netball knowledge, but we knew what we didn’t have.”

That’s where Leeds Rhinos, the rugby club, stepped in.

“Looking back we know now the game had moved on and as a volunteer-led club we weren’t in a position to move on with it unfortunately,” admits Pexton.

“Working with the Rhinos gave us the opportunity to professionalise and commercialise the game through their sporting experience, their history and their foundation. We harnessed that and it enabled us to come back stronger.”

Getting a Yorkshire team back into Super League for the 2021 season under the umbrella of Leeds Rhinos was significant, but there can be no greater pat on the back or validation of the direction they are moving in than the one they received this week. When England Netball announced the teams that will form Netball 2.0, a 10-year plan to take the game towards professionalism, Leeds Rhinos were one of the eight they selected, alongside established teams Manchester Thunder, Loughborough Lightning and London Pulse, rebranded London Mavericks and Cardiff Dragons, and new entities Birmingham Panthers and Nottingham Forest.

“It’s an absolutely massive deal for us,” says Pexton, a long-standing board member of Leeds Rhinos Netball who paid tribute to the work done by managing director Dan Busfield and his team in getting the bid across the line.

“Whether it’s for the players, those girls in the pathway, those younger kids who aspire to be athletes going forward, the parents and the volunteers, it’s huge news that we get to keep Super League in Yorkshire.”

Given where she and her colleagues were eight years ago, there was empathy with her counterparts at Severn Stars, Surrey Storm, Strathclyde Sirens and Team Bath who have not been challenged with taking the game forward.

“I’ve reached out to a couple because from our own personal experience it is absolutely heartbreaking,” says Pexton, who will watch the current Leeds Rhinos play Severn Stars at the University of Huddersfield this afternoon in a game Rhinos have to win to keep their play-off hopes alive.

“When you see something that on the face of it looks bad for those athletes you’re working for and with, then it is upsetting.

“When Yorkshire Jets lost out it meant I had to take my daughter down to Loughborough three times a week to train because that was the nearest franchise. That was really hard. But the game was changing then, as it is again now, it’s stepping up a whole new level.”

Her advice? “In a leadership role you have to do your horizon scanning and think where is the game going and what do we need to be able to do to be in that market and try and roll with it, be part of that challenge and not get left behind.”

There remain details to be ironed out, like what happens to the excess of players who could lose contracts. There are currently 10 teams in Super League all with squads of 12 players. To improve standards, England Netball want 10 players on the eight squads next year, a drop from 120 players at the elite level to 80.

Pexton admits: “I’m really torn on this, if you want to grow the game surely you want more teams, but you also want competitive games. The announcement mentioned a feeder league and there’ll be further refinement in relation to the pathways as a consequence of professionalisation and what we’d hope is that those players in those spots are not left behind.

“Women’s sport faces a big challenge with drop-outs of players in their late teens due to other interests. We cannot let that happen. This has to be for the greater good of the game.”