Breathless action from basketball and netball varsity matches as Matchday Live says farewell to three veterans
Two pulsating games settled the ‘Battle of Manchester’ between Man Met and UoM’s basketball and netball teams in what was a raucous occasion at Platt Lane.
NQ spoke to Dan from Fuse TV, UoM’s TV channel, who predicted that this mega basketball matchup would be “a close game” and that there would be “two points in it”.
However, it transpired to be quite the opposite.
A convincing 82-63 win was sealed for Callum Jones’ MMU as both teams slugged it out in a particularly physical, end-to-end encounter. MMU’s early first half lead saw them safely towards the bragging rights despite a valiant effort from the UoM team who never gave up the chase.
The netball first team face-off was settled by the narrowest of margins for our Mancunian counterparts as those in purple saw their victory out through last-ditch defending to deny a late MMU equaliser after sharp-shooter Yomi Wilson netted to make it 43-42. An eruption of noise followed the final sounding of the hooter as supporters, friends and teammates rushed onto the court to celebrate the success of the UoM netball team.
A fantastically determined effort from Paige Kindred’s side wasn’t quite enough to secure a win over our rivals.
Watching the netball game in the stands was England’s most capped netball player of all time Jade Clarke who was in attendance to cast an eye over four of the most promising future stars. Yomi Wilson and Tami Fapohunda made up the UoM contingent which Jade was analysing whilst the gold medal winner at the 2018 Commonwealth Games also kept a keen eye on Alice McGeachy and captain Maisy Stevens from the MMU team.
Matchday Live’s broadcast chief Sam Heitzman said: “These were two evenly balanced and very tense games showing university sports at its finest. The way both games ebbed and flowed with the result hanging in the balance was astonishing to watch and incredibly exciting to cover.”
The two intense and at times nail-biting match ups were a fitting finale for this season’s Matchday Live coverage of MMU Sport, with the show being the final curtain for three MMU undergraduates: presenters Dorthe Berger and Verity Marchant and vision mixer and producer Eddie Orsborn.
Sam added: “This was a fitting finale to the 2024-25 season for the show and a wonderful high for Dorthe, Verity and Eddie to bow out on. The noise was unbelievable and both universities deserve credit for such a high standard of play and such intense support.
Varsity
The Matchday Live crew has covered the on-field fortunes of MMU sportsmen and women for a fourth consecutive year, ending in promotion to the top division for the men’s rugby first team coached by Rob Jones.
This final show for these varsity matches really captured the intensity, excitement and the brilliant atmosphere that comes with court sports.
Everybody at Matchday Live looks forward to returning in covering next year’s multi-sport campaign which is sure to bring many more magical nights like this.
The Matchday Live coverage can be viewed here.