Jane Dougall's Sportswomen blog: Netball - Definitely Cool

Around a week ago, England women narrowly lost to the No 1 side in the world Australia by one point. It was one of the most thrilling netball matches I've ever watched.

With 10 seconds to go, England were pressing for that goal to take the game to extra time, but Australian captain Sharni Layton leapt into the air and produced a superhuman interception to win the match at the death.

A few days later there was an article in the Guardian about netball. It did not cover the match or praise the performance of the England Roses, rather it stated netball was "the least-cool sport in the history of all sport."

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

It was not well received among the netball community with an explosion of anger on Twitter.

Former England captain, Sara Bayman tweeted: "Interesting week the UK media chose to netball-bash, with all top nations competing on their soil. The ignorance continues #doyourresearch."

England shooter Jo Harten added: "God I hate those sports that keep THOUSANDS of females active every week, give empowerment and help form lifelong friendships."

The current England netball captain Ama Agbeze tweeted: "I'm @amaagbeze I captain the @England_Netball Roses and I'm proud to play netball. Cool or not! #NetballOnTheRise."

By the end of the day, the hashtag #NetballOnTheRise was trending.

I wasn't surprised at the reaction. Netball Superleague matches are sold out week after week around the country with higher attendances than for some matches in football's Scottish Championship.

Last year's Super Saturday - held at Birmingham's Genting Arena - saw 7,621 spectators watch four back-to-back matches. The crowd mainly consisted of young girls (and their parents) because they too play the sport and love watching the professionals.

According to Sport England, girls tend to drop off from participating in physical activity at around 14 years of age so the last thing we want to do is tell them that a sport - any sport - isn't cool.

Most netballers are Beyonce cool and have incredible, Amazonian bodies with Jess Ennis-Hill style six packs; they use the latest equipment and wear those Bose headphones while walking into the stadiums (a la Premier League footballers). The action is incredibly fast-paced and exciting, if the crowds' regular gasps are anything to go by. Why wouldn't you want to play or watch it?

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

To the Guardian's credit, a few days later they ran an article written by Tamsin Greenway, former England player and director of netball at Wasps. Greenway wrote: "All women's sports are fighting their own mini-battles and that is why articles like this G2 one are frustrating because the only way women's sport is going to grow is by more women getting on board and supporting it at all levels."

It's disappointing that, despite the work put into promoting and encouraging women and girls to take part in netball, plus the millions invested from Sport England over the years - there are still naysayers determined to belittle a predominantly female sport. The only way to combat the bad attitudes from others is to keep playing, keep watching and …. in Beyonce style …. Hold Up your Formation. #netballontherise