Blue & Gold legend Stacey Francis-Bayman to retire from netball after Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
Stacey Francis-Bayman, Team Bath Netball’s most decorated Superleague player, has announced she will retire from playing after representing England at this summer’s Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
The goal-defence, who was inducted into the University of Bath Hall of Fame for Sport in 2017, was the only player to be involved in all five of Team Bath’s title successes having been part of the club’s first-ever Superleague squad.
She was twice named as Superleague Player of the Year during her nine years with the Blue & Gold and, after heading to Australia to play professionally, Francis-Bayman returned to the club’s famous colours in both the 2018 and 2019 British Fast5 All-Stars Championships.
Francis-Bayman announced her retirement at an awards dinner for West Coast Fever, just hours after she had helped the Perth-based club win their first-ever Australian domestic title with a dominant 70-59 victory over Melbourne Vixens in Sunday’s Suncorp Super Netball Grand Final.
“Whilst there is still very much a job to be done in the coming weeks and there will be more to say then, I feel incredibly content to be able to say, on my own terms and at what feels like the right time, that I have decided to retire from playing netball,” she said.
“I am so thankful for the people that I have met and the experiences I have had that have made me into the passionate, courageous and honest woman that I am.”
Before she hangs up her GD bib, Francis-Bayman – a University of Bath Sports Performance graduate – will return to her home city of Birmingham to represent England in her third Commonwealth Games having helped the Roses win bronze at Delhi 2010. She also has two Netball World Cup bronze medals (2011 and 2015) and 77 caps to date.
