Pitman wants ‘passionate’ Forest netball support

Nottingham Forest head coach Chelsea Pitman has called on the Reds’ football fans to “jump on board” the club’s move into the Netball Super League (NSL).

Premier League football side Forest expanded their sporting reach when they successfully bid to join Britain’s revamped top-flight competition in May.

Pitman, who featured internationally for both England and Australia during her 14-year playing career, was the first major appointment made by the Reds when she was named as head coach earlier in July.

She said the involvement of the two-time former European champions in the NSL was an “historic” moment for the sport that she hoped “will draw people in”.

“It’s a worldwide brand that wants to tap into our netball, I think that is exciting for the sport,” she said.

“I want the Nottingham Forest football fans to jump on board and be part of our journey as well. Come to games, be loud, be proud and passionate. Everything you do for Forest football, can you please do for Forest netball.”

Forest will play their games at the city’s 10,000-seat Motorpoint Arena, a venue that has previously hosted NSL fixtures and England international matches.

Pitman said it was “exciting” to call such an arena home, and believes Forest has a legion of potential supporters to help fill it up.

“That is something we definitely want to try and lean on and tap into because it is not going to be easy for us to fill that stadium and arena,” Pitman said.

“But we just want people to come to one game, and I promise you will fall in love with the sport of netball.”

‘Part of the Forest family’

Pitman, a World Championship winner with Australia in 2011 before she changed her international allegiances to England, said the football club’s expansion into netball had seen the sport absorbed into the “Forest family”.

“We don’t want to have a divide that ‘we are football’ and ‘we are netball’,” Pitman told BBC Radio Nottingham.

“What I’ve learned is that it is a very muck-in mentality, and everyone helps each other out.

“I can’t wait to have that cross-code opportunity to be able to see the inner workings of the football club and what makes them professional, what makes them elite and what can I then transfer into the netball environment.”

The side that Pitman will be in charge of will be made up of players on part-time deals, but she stressed that the club and wider sport in the UK is working towards full-time professionalism.

She added that the recent announcement that Forest’s women’s football side is set to go full-time while playing in the third tier is encouraging.

“I want that for our sport and for that to happen as soon as possible,” she said.

“It’s probably not going to happen in the next two or three years, it is probably a 10-year plan, but it’s about what we can do now to secure our future for the next generation that will one day be pulling on a Forest dress.”