2012 Netball Superleague season

2012 Netball Superleague season
League	Netball Superleague
Number of teams	8
TV partner(s)	Sky Sports
Champions	Northern Thunder
Runners-up	Surrey Storm

The 2012 Netball Superleague season (known for sponsorship reasons as the FIAT Netball Superleague) was the seventh season of the Netball Superleague. The league was won by Northern Thunder. In the grand final Northern Thunder defeated Surrey Storm. 2012 saw the introduction of a new format, featuring three distinct phases, including a Showdown Weekend.

Teams

Following the conclusion of the 2011 Netball Superleague season, England Netball decided to cut the number of teams from nine to eight and, as a result, Glasgow Wildcats lost their place in the league.[1][2] In addition, Leeds Carnegie were re-branded as Yorkshire Jets.[3][4]

2012 Superleague teams	Home venue/base	Country/Region
Celtic Dragons	Sport Wales National Centre	Wales
Hertfordshire Mavericks	University of Hertfordshire	East of England
Loughborough Lightning	Loughborough University	East Midlands
Northern Thunder	Wright Robinson College[5]	North West England
Team Bath	University of Bath	South West England/West of England
Team Northumbria	West Gate Centre for Sport, Newcastle	North East England
Surrey Storm	University of Surrey	Greater London/South East England
Yorkshire Jets	Hull / Leeds / Sheffield[4]	Yorkshire

Regular season

Phase 1

Phase 1 featured all eight teams playing a single round of matches in a league format. At the end of the seven rounds, the top four and bottom four split into two tiers.[3] Northern Thunder were unbeaten in Phase 1 of the season.[6]

2012 Netball Superleague season – Phase 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	PP	Pts	Qualification
1	Northern Thunder	7	7	0	0	443	269	164.7	21	Qualified for Phase 2 Tier 1
2	Surrey Storm	7	6	1	0	441	336	131.3	18
3	Hertfordshire Mavericks	7	4	3	0	336	342	98.2	12
4	Team Bath	7	3	4	0	356	353	100.8	9
5	Celtic Dragons	7	3	4	0	351	355	98.9	9	Qualified for Phase 2 Tier 2
6	Yorkshire Jets	7	3	4	0	306	336	91.1	9
7	Team Northumbria	7	1	6	0	337	387	87.1	3
8	Loughborough Lightning	7	1	6	0	257	398	64.6	3

Source: ^[citation needed]

Phase 2

Phase 2 was effectively a group stage, with the teams in each group playing each other home and away.[3]

2012 Netball Superleague season – Tier 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	PP	Pts	Qualification
1	Surrey Storm	6	6	0	0	376	302	124.5	18	Qualified for semi-finals
2	Northern Thunder	6	4	2	0	376	278	135.3	12
3	Hertfordshire Mavericks	6	2	4	0	266	342	77.8	6
4	Team Bath	6	0	6	0	269	365	73.7	0	Qualified for Eliminator

Source: ^[citation needed]

2012 Netball Superleague season – Tier 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	PP	Pts	Qualification
5	Celtic Dragons	6	6	0	0	342	249	137.3	18	Qualified for Eliminator
6	Yorkshire Jets	6	4	2	0	319	270	118.1	12
7	Team Northumbria	6	1	5	0	273	336	81.3	3
8	Loughborough Lightning	6	1	5	0	239	318	75.2	3

Source: ^[citation needed]

Eliminator

The Eliminator was effectively a 4th/5th place play-off with the winner qualifying for the semi-finals.[3]

14 May 2012		Team Bath	52–50	Celtic Dragons		University of Bath[7][8]
		Scoring by quarter: 16–9, 28–19, 44–29, 52–50

Showdown Weekend

Semi Final 1

19 May 2012

Northern Thunder

57–33

Hertfordshire Mavericks

SportHouse, Dagenham[6]

Semi Final 2

19 May 2012

Surrey Storm

62–38

Team Bath

SportHouse, Dagenham[9]

3rd/4th Place Play Off

20 May 2012

Hertfordshire Mavericks

46–39

Team Bath

SportHouse, Dagenham[6][9]

Grand Final

Further information: 2012 Netball Superleague Grand Final

20 May 2012		Northern Thunder	57–55	Surrey Storm		SportHouse, Dagenham[6][10][11] Umpires: Gary Burgess and Louise Travis
		Scoring by quarter: 13–14, 28–25, 42–40, 57–55
		Janelle Lawson  33/39 (85%) Karen Greig  24/28 (86%)		Rachel Dunn  35/41 (85%) Pamela Cookey  20/23 (87%)

References

1. "Loughborough Lightning secure place in Netball Super League". www.lboro.ac.uk. 10 August 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
2. "Coach Holland confident of Wildcats striking back". www.bbc.co.uk. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
3. "FIAT Netball Superleague 2012 Format" (PDF). www.teambath.com. 15 September 2011.
4. "Yorkshire Jets is new Superleague netball club for 2012". www.bbc.co.uk. 16 December 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
5. "Welcome to the Thunderdome as netball stars come to Gorton". www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
6. "Northern Thunder win first Superleague title". www.bbc.co.uk. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
7. "Team Bath through to netball's showdown superleague weekend". www.sportfocus.com. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
8. "Netballers through to superleague semis". www.teambath.com. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
9. "Team Bath end Superleague season in fourth". www.sportfocus.com. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
10. "Manchester Thunder: Superleague winners in name change". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
11. "History". www.surreystormnetball.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2020.