Louise Travis in action umpiring at the Netball World Cup 2023 in Cape Town. Credit: Danny Dalton.
During the Netball World Cup 2023, England was also represented on the world stage in the form of four fantastic officials.
Heather Gleadall, Gary Burgess, Kate Mann and Louise Travis were all involved on and beyond the court in Cape Town this summer.
Gleadall headed up the Umpire Appointments Panel (UAP) as Chair having been a member of the UAP at the Vitality Netball World Cup 2019 in Liverpool.
Discussing her role afterwards, she said: “I saw my appointment as Chair of the UAP as a great privilege, and an opportunity to work closely with ITPs from around the world. Some I had worked with before, and some I had not. We had some great discussions.
“I was determined to do my very best, and for the UAP to work as a team, with a focus on fairness and equity. I think we achieved this.
“The umpires did an amazing job, which helped to make our job a little easier.”
Mann made her umpiring debut at the sport’s pinnacle event and was full of excitement and gratitude for the experience.
She said: “The NWC was truly amazing! It was wonderful having the opportunity to umpire so many different teams and with umpires who I’d never met before.
“A highlight for me had to be umpiring South Africa’s opening match and also reserving one of the semi-finals.
“I’ve learnt so much over the course of the NWC about preparation and umpiring in such high profile events.
Huge congratulations to South Africa Netball and World Netball for organising a fabulous and highly successful competition – so pleased I had the chance to be apart of it. – Kate Mann
After umpiring at the 2011 World Netball Championships and the Vitality Netball World Cup 2019 in Liverpool, Travis was selected for her third World Cup in 2023 which she described as a “truly memorable experience”.
She reflected: “Cape Town was a wonderful host. The hospitality provided to us, and the organisation of the entire event was excellent.
“From an umpiring perspective, I got to umpire netball from across the world (involving some countries which I’d never umpired before) which makes for an exciting and challenging experience. It was also fantastic to see the development of our game from the previous World Cups, with some very close and unexpected results.
“Finally, as always at these events, it was a wonderful to reconnect and work with umpires from across the world, and renew our friendships, some of which have been in place for over 15 years.”
Meanwhile, Burgess got a fourth World Cup under his belt after being in the teams for 2011, Sydney 2015 and 2019.
He added: “As expected, Netball South Africa put on a fantastic show befitting of the African continent’s first hosting of the Netball World Cup.
“I was privileged to umpire some of the tournaments most memorable matches including the South Africa vs New Zealand draw, Jamaica’s victory over New Zealand and of course the Australia vs Jamaica semi-final.
“A fabulous fortnight in Cape Town and a life time of memories made.”
Congratulations to Heather, Gary, Kate and Louise on a brilliant competition.
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