IN the end, they weren’t required on court.
But the D-Grade Diamonds know deep in their hearts that just being in South Africa for the Netball World Cup was just the inspiration the Aussies needed to overcome England in Monday morning’s final.
Glass House Mountains local Sally Vere and a group of diehard netball friends have been in South Africa over the past fortnight, with fingers and toes crossed that they might have had a chance at World Cup glory.
And certainly after losing to England in a group game, there was some hope that heads might roll in favour of a D-Grade diehards.
Unfortunately it was not to be.
Sally (pictured)wasn’t going to die wondering though – the WA state league player had been coached by current Diamonds coach, Stacey Marinkovich, so there was an ‘in’ there – just in case you need.
Sally said her group had been making skits and reenacting pictures the actual Diamonds team have been posting online, and were hoping to gain the attention of the team to meet them at the World Cup.
“It’s all about just making people laugh and having a good time together but also the ultimate goal is to meet the team, we are all pretty diehard fans of Courtney Bruce who plays for West Coast Fever,” she said.
“We’ve been trying hard, so that’s the aim, they’d really love to meet the whole team and to just have a bit of a laugh with them and support them along the way.
“We actually haven’t tagged them yet because we’re too afraid to, but I thought maybe once we get a bit more credibility and our story gains more interest, we can start tagging the Diamonds.”
Along with the skits, they have also made nearly identical uniforms to the official Diamonds team, and joke that they will be ready to sub in on the court if needed.
“We made an almost exact replica of their uniform, the proper dresses, jackets, everything, with the aim is to be the D Grade reserves for the Diamonds and if they got injured on court, we would step up,” she said. Unfortunately for Sally, her uniform was still in Perth when the Cup started, but not to be perturbed, she improvised by making a uniform out of a yellow bin bag, until she had the chance to dress properly in in South Africa. To check out their journey: instagram.com/d_grade_diamonds.