Watch Netball: Black Roses on Sky Sports Arena and Mix on Friday at 4.45pm before England's Vitality Roses take on the Vitality Netball Superleague All Stars.
Friday 22 January 2021 07:17, UK
In a new Sky Sports documentary, Camilla Buchanan explores the history of race and diversity in netball. She speaks to the first black athletes to wear the Rose, talks to the individuals who moved the sport forwards and hears from current players in the national side.
The documentary - Netball: Black Roses - will air for the first time on Sky Sports Arena and Mix on Friday at 4.45pm, before England's match against the Vitality Netball Superleague All Stars.
It commences with England Netball's first black player - Jean Hornsby - reflecting on her road to the top of the sport during the 1970s.
"At the time, I wasn't aware that I was the first black player," she said to Buchanan. "Although I didn't ever see anybody of my age or older to look up to. I was just a player, I just wanted to get on there, do my best and excel."
I was the exception but now it's the norm, which is perfect and as it should be.
Buchanan then connects with two of 'The Famous Five'; five black women who all came from the same club in East London and represented England together.
Layla Carnegie and Desiree Mahoney can remember their emergence in the world of netball like it was yesterday.
They recall particularly important and powerful moments during a tour of Jamaica in 1981 and speak about their own experiences being at the top of the sport.
When we lined up. in every picture that was taken, we made sure that we lined as a black netball player, a white netball player, a black netball player. We made sure that we were all on an even keel, [to show] that we were there together, to play together, to enjoy and to be treated as equals. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had.
The pathway paved by Hornsby, Carnegie, Mahoney and the rest of the 'Famous Five', was then taken by other netballers including Maggie Birkinshaw, Trudy Papafio and Hellen Manufor.
Birkinshaw and Buchanan speak about the former's own career and also discuss the topic of the number of black coaches at the elite level now.
Two of England's most formidable defenders, Sonia Mkoloma and Amanda Newton, also join Buchanan to speak about how they worked to take netball forwards.
Kadeen and Sasha Corbin have a powerful and open meeting with Carnegie and Mahoney and members of England's current Vitality Roses squad speak about their desire to be role models for young black women and why it's important that their voices are heard.
Watch Netball: Black Roses on Sky Sports Arena and Mix on Friday at 4.45pm before England's Vitality Roses take on the Vitality Netball Superleague All Stars.
