Jamaica, England to play for Rhone Hornsby Trophy

JAMAICA’S SUNSHINE Girls and England’s Vitality Roses, who are currently halfway through their four-match Horizon Netball Series, are on a quest to see which team will take the first hold of the inaugural Rhone Hornsby Trophy.

The series trophy is named in honour of Molly Rhone, OJ, CD, OD, on behalf of Netball Jamaica and Jean Hornsby on behalf of England Netball. The home-and-away series between Jamaica and England will become a fixture on the international calendar for the next four years.

Molly Rhone has a long and distinguished period of service as a sports administrator and former national netball player. She served as president of the Jamaica Netball Association for 10 years from 1993 to 2003, and eventually became president of AFNA (Americas Netball) and president of the International Netball Federation from 2003 to 2019, the only Jamaican to ever head an international sporting body.

Jean Hornsby was an outstanding netball player and is the first black player to represent England. She played wing defence for the national under-21 team for four years (1974-1978) and was captain for two of the four years. She went on to represent England in the 1979 World Netball Tournament (now known as the Netball World Cup). She has stayed close to the sport over the years, declaring that she holds fun memories of Jamaica which she visited for the first time in 1975.

Rhone and Hornsby have greatly impacted the sport of netball in their individual countries, at the regional level, and on the world stage and have contributed to the growth and development of netball in their unique ways.

The Rhone Hornsby Trophy will be presented for the first time in Jamaica at the National Indoor Sports Centre (NISC) in Kingston, to the winner of the four-match Horizon Series.

Two of the four matches have already been played with England holding a 1-0 lead after winning the second match (55/47). The first match ended in an exciting tie (49/49). Those matches were played in Manchester, England.

Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls are eagerly looking forward to the next two matches which are scheduled for Monday at 6:30 p.m. and Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at the NISC.