Jade Bridget Clarke (born 17 October 1983 in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England) is an English

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player. Primarily a midcourt defender, Clarke was selected for the England national netball team in 2002, making her senior debut the following year against New Zealand. During her international career, she has competed at five

Netball World Championships The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by the World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and t ...

(

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, 2011, 2015 and 2019), four

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

(

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and 2014, 2018), and the 2009 and 2011 World Netball Series. Clarke plays domestic netball in the

Netball Superleague The Netball Super League is a top level netball league featuring teams from the United Kingdom. The league is organised by England Netball but features teams based in England, Wales and Scotland. The league was commenced playing at the 2005–06 ...

, having played four seasons with Loughborough Lightning before switching to the Northern Thunder for 2009–10. In 2010, Clarke was signed to play in the Australasian

ANZ Championship The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned ...

with New Zealand–based team the

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic are a New Zealand netball team based in Hamilton. Between 1999 and 2007, they played in the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup league. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017, Magic have ...

, as a Temporary Replacement Player for injured midcourter

Peta Scholz Peta Scholz (born 17 January 1976), also known as Peta Squire, is a former Australia netball international. She was a member of the Australia teams that won the gold medals at the 1999 World Netball Championships and the 2002 Commonwealth Game ...

. In 2011, she was named as the captain of England, after the retirement of Karen Atkinson after the 2011 Netball World Championships. She captained them to a first ever gold medal in the 2011 World Netball Series. In 2012, she signed on to play for the NZ Franchise,

Northern Mystics Northern Mystics are a New Zealand netball team based in Auckland. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Northern in the ANZ Premiership. Netball Northern is the governing body t ...

for the ANZ Championships. She signed with the

Canterbury Tactix Mainland Tactix are a New Zealand netball team based in Christchurch, Canterbury. Between 1998 and 2007, as Canterbury Flames, they played in the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup league. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championsh ...

for the 2013 season. After 2 seasons with the

Clarke signed with the Sydney-based

NSW Swifts New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team w ...

signing as their import player. On 21 September 2014, Clarke was inducted into the England Netball Hall of Fame. In September 2015, it was confirmed that she had re-signed for Loughborough Lightning. On 20 February 2016, it was announced she would be returning to Australia to play for

Adelaide Thunderbirds Adelaide Thunderbirds are an Australian netball team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they played in ...

. She stayed in Australia until 2018, when she returned to England to play for

Wasps Netball Wasps Netball were an English netball team based at the Coventry Building Society Arena in Coventry, Warwickshire. Wasps Netball was formed in 2016 as a partnership with the Premiership Rugby team, Wasps RFC. Since 2017 their senior team has ...

. Clarke was a member of the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

winning England team at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

. She was also selected in the 12-player squad for the Roses at the

2019 Netball World Cup The 2019 Netball World Cup (also known as the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the INF Netball World Cup. It was held from 12–21 July 2019 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, England with matche ...

. Clarke was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to netball.

Personal life

Jade Clarke was born in 1983 in Manchester and later studied Sports Science at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

ANZ Championship accolades

* 2014 Mainland Tactix Members' Player of the Year * 2013 Tactix Player of the Year

National Representation

* 2003–present

England Netball England Netball, formerly the "All England Netball Association", is the national body which oversees, promotes and manages netball in England. Overview England Netball is responsible for the management of the England national netball team, nickn ...

Team * 2014 England Netball Captain

Netball Career Facts

* Inducted into the England Netball Hall of Fame * 2014 England Commonwealth Games Netball Team Captain * 2011, 2015 World Netball Championship Bronze Medal with England * 2011 FastNet World Netball Series Gold Medal with England (as Captain) * 2006, 2010 Commonwealth Games Bronze Medal with England * 2018, Commonwealth games Gold medal with England

References

English netball players Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Netball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Netball players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games New South Wales Swifts players Mainland Tactix players Northern Mystics players Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic players 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Manchester Commonwealth Games medallists in netball Netball Superleague players Netball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games 2019 Netball World Cup players Loughborough Lightning netball players Wasps Netball players Manchester Thunder players AENA Super Cup players Adelaide Thunderbirds players English expatriate netball people in New Zealand English expatriate netball people in Australia 2011 World Netball Championships players 2015 Netball World Cup players Netball players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Members of the Order of the British Empire {{England-netball-bio-stub