Nigeria’s Green Hawks Make History Despite Defeat to Scotland
Nigeria’s Green Hawks made history on Tuesday, July 14, with the country’s first-ever appearance in an international netball fixture, despite suffering a 74-22 defeat to Scotland in a friendly warm-up match in Glasgow.
The landmark encounter marked the beginning of Nigeria’s journey into international netball, as the Green Hawks took on a Scotland side preparing for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which the country will host.
Scotland’s superior experience, quality and cohesion ultimately proved decisive, with the hosts producing the performance expected of a top-10 netball nation.
The result, however, represented an important first step for Nigeria as the country begins its journey towards international recognition and a place in the global netball rankings.
For the Green Hawks, the match was also an opportunity to test a relatively new team against a highly experienced opponent that has been building towards the Commonwealth Games since finishing ninth at the 2022 edition.
Team coach Alison Akinrinlola said the result did not fully reflect the performance of the Nigerian team, highlighting the limited preparation time available to the Green Hawks before facing a Scotland side already operating in full competition mode.
’74-22 sounds like a big score, but it was surely not a reflection of the performance we saw in that match,’ Akinrinlola said. ‘Bear in mind that we had only had a few training sessions, playing against a top-10 team in the world in competition mode, focused and preparing for the Games that they will be going to as hosts.
‘We gave them a run for their money, and it was good to see what we had done in a few weeks of training.’
The team was led on its historic maiden outing by the Chairman of the Nigeria Diaspora Talent Development Committee and National Teams’ Lead for the Nigeria Netball Federation, Dr ‘Tunde Adelakun. He was supported by former Jamaica national coach Connie Francis and Team Coordinator Dr Yinka Idowu.
The Green Hawks are made up of players based in the diaspora, many of whom have played or are currently playing in various netball leagues, particularly in England, including the Premier and NextGen leagues. Several players have also represented international youth teams at different levels.
Dr Adelakun praised the players for their commitment and dedication to the project, both during the build-up to the match and throughout the team’s training sessions.
‘It was interesting to see the level of commitment, passion and dedication shown by these girls, not just for this match, but also their attitude and devotion to attending training sessions prior to Glasgow,’ he said.
‘It has been very encouraging. It shows that there are a lot of people who believe in the Nigerian cause, and our support and encouragement, when given, will translate to success stories across all sports, from the diaspora to Nigeria, in terms of medals, trophies and the development of a sporting culture for our dear country.’
The Green Hawks will return to action on Friday, July 17, at the Diaspora Multi-Sports Event in Hatfield, where they will play another tune-up match against Pakistan.
