Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Carlisle, England | 19 January 1995||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | The Nelson Thomlinson School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University | University of Manchester | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Netball career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing position(s): GA, GS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Club team(s) | Apps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2013–2016 | Manchester Thunder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2017–Present | New South Wales Swifts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | National team(s) | Caps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2014–present | England | 110 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last updated: April 2025 |
Helen Housby MBE (born 19 January 1995) is a professional English netball player. [1] [2] She has represented the England national netball team since 2014. Housby played netball for the Netball Superleague side Manchester Thunder from 2013 to 2016, helping them win the 2014 Superleague Grand-Final against rivals Surrey Storm. Since 2017 she plays for the New South Wales Swifts. [3]
Housby was born in Carlisle and grew up in rural Cumbria surrounded by animals. An avid Manchester United F.C. fan, her role model was David Beckham. [4] She studied zoology at the University of Manchester. [5] A video of Housby performing a TikTok dance during an England game went viral in 2022. It was posted by the official Commonwealth Games TikTok account and viewed over 1.1 million times. [6]
Spotted at 15 years old, she was brought into the Manchester Thunder pathway by Karen Greig and Tracey Neville. [7] She made her debut for the senior team in 2013 and became a regular starter in the 2014 season where she helped the team win the 2014 Superleague Grand-Final against rivals Surrey Storm by scoring a long-range shot in the dying seconds of the game. [8] [7] She made the grand final again in 2016 but lost to Surrey Storm by 2 goals.
Housby joined Australian side New South Wales Swifts for the 2017 season. [9] She was part of the Swifts team that won the Suncorp Super Netball in 2019 and 2021 and also made the final in 2023. [10] She won the Swifts MVP award in 2023 and 2024. [11]
Housby made her England national netball team debut at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where the team finished fourth. [7] The next year she won bronze at the 2015 Netball World Cup. [12]
She won a historic gold against Australia at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia - scoring in the final second of the game to give victory to England by one point. [13] The England team had beaten Jamaica in the semi-final match by a single point, also from a last-minute goal. [14] Jamaica had narrowly defeated England in Glasgow 2014 to take the bronze medal. The England team won BBC Sports Team of the Year Award and BBC Greatest Sporting Moment of the Year in 2018. [4]
She was selected for England's 2019 Netball World Cup, and 2022 Commonwealth Games squad, finishing 3rd in both events. [15] [4] [16] Housby was also part of the England team at the 2023 Netball World Cup. [17] She was named player of the tournament and 'best shooter' as England lost in the final to Australia. [18]
Housby was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to netball. [19]
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)