Correction: This article originally read the “Highbury and Islington Monday League at Highbury Fields”. It should have read the “Highbury and Islington Thursday League at Highbury Fields”. We apologise for the mistake.
A brand new women’s netball league – the Highbury and Islington Thursday League at Highbury Fields – will begin tonight (Thursday).
Top Corner, a company that runs local sports leagues across the capital, is running the first drop in-session at Highbury this evening, and hopes to have at least six teams battle it out over 72 games across the season.
Paul Edwards, who runs a Top Corner franchise in north London and is creating the league, said the aim is to bring together women from all backgrounds.
”There will be women who are looking for some competition, others will be mums who haven’t played for a few years and there will be some who are completely new to the game,” he said.
“One of the teams is coming from the Whittington Hospital.”
Following the creation of a netball league in Hoxton last year, Edwards predicts the sport will only get more popular across the capital, having been largely untouched before 2008.
“I would imagine that netball is a really easy one to come back to because girls play it at school whereas I’ve got friends who are females and they’ve never played football,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of pitch time in Highbury Fields. It’s a beautiful park and when the clocks go forward and it’s warm that’s going to be very attractive. Highbury and Islington is a dream in terms of its location.”
