The Surrey Storm are an English netball team based in Guildford that domestically compete in the Netball Superleague and were part of the inaugural World Premier Club Challenge in 2012. They Formed in 2009, following the disbandment of the ‘Brunel Hurricanes’. They are a London and South East based Franchise that teamed up with the multi-million pound Surrey Sports Park to host their home league games.
The Netball Superleague in which the Storm play is an elite netball competition in England, Wales and Scotland which includes players from Fiji, New Zealand, England, Wales and Scotland. It runs from January to May each year and was established in 1999; currently featuring eight teams from all areas of Britain. It is regularly shown on sports broadcaster Sky Sports thanks to a major television deal signed in 2006 with the naming rights to the competition being secured by Fiat Automobiles.
At the time of the Storm’s foundation, new franchise coach Mary Beardwood, who lead the England national team to two bronzes in the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games (1998) and in the Netball World Championships (1999) had this to say,
“This franchise has a wealth of experience and young talent and I cannot wait to start building the foundations for the new season” [In September 2009 on her appointment].
Mary is now the Vice-president of the Franchise whilst Mark Garfoot is the Franchise Director and on the coaching staff you have Naomi Taylor as the Team Manager, Tallisa Haynes as the Assistant Coach, and crowd favourite, Tamsin Greenway is the Head Coach as well as still playing. The England Wing Attack has been an international since the 2004/2005 season, collecting Bronze Medals with England in the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games as well as winning back to back Superleague titles in 2005/6 and 2006/7 with TeamBath.
Surrey Storm narrowly missed out on a place in the Grand Final in their opening season (having finished first in the league) and have enjoyed a great deal of success since, without winning the coveted Superleague Grand Final yet. They reached the Grand Final in 2010-11, losing to rivals the Hertfordshire Mavericks 57-46 in a close battle, then the following season lost agonisingly 55-57 in the final to Northern Thunder. The crown has been dominated by Team Bath who have won the trophy five out of the seasons since the league was introduced and the story was the same in 2013 as Surrey Storm crashed out 65-52 to Celtic Dragons in the semi-finals and Team Bath won the final.
Surrey Storm were also placed fourth out of six international elite teams when they competed in the World Premier Club Challenge in December 2012, a fantastic opportunity to raise the status of the team and English netball in general. They narrowly beat Northern Panthers (Northern Ireland) and Glasgow Wildcats (Scotland), but finishing behind Manchester Thunder (England), West Coast Fever (Australia) and Haier Pulse (New Zealand).
James Martin