Surrey Storm raise profile as poster girls for rapidly growing sport

London's Copper Box was packed for the clash

Surrey Storm celebrate their triumph in the Superleague Grand Final (PA)

It has been a storming season for netball in more ways than one. On Saturday night Surrey Storm romped to their first Superleague title, with more than 6,000 fans packing out London's Copper Box to witness their 56-39 Grand Final victory over Hertfordshire Mavericks.

The attendance was just as impressive as the victory. To put the crowd in perspective, it was bigger than the one that saw England's women footballers beat China last month or the one that turned out to see England's women rugby players see off Italy in their first home fixture of the 2015 Six Nations.

It was also far from a one-off.

Netball is arguably the fastest growing women's sport in the country, certainly in terms of attendance figures. The week before the Grand Final, Manchester Thunder moved their semi-final to Manchester Arena to accommodate more than 4,000 supporters. The figures are even more impressive in the capital where earlier this season Surrey beat Hertfordshire in a league fixture before another crowd of 6,000 – again at the Copper Box.

With teams like Storm and Mavericks boasting they could increase their ticket sales by three or four times for the more high-profile encounters, the next challenge could be finding new venues to accommodate the growing attendances. Thunder coach Tracey Neville, who was at the Copper Box on Saturday to lead her side to a 55-49 third place play-off win over Yorkshire Jets, said she would like to see her side enjoy the 'unreal' atmosphere of Manchester Arena on a permanent basis. “I think with these games we've seen examples of where our sport can start evolving to,” she added. “I think now every franchise needs to be challenged and each year, with another franchise, put on a big event. It's about taking a risk.”

The continued growth of netball – which has put the sport on the watch lists of promoters like Barry Hearn - has surprised some, but not necessarily those involved in the game.

“People are surprised so many fans come to games but for those who know netball it's no surprise and I see fixtures being held at bigger venues across the country in the near future,” said Tamsin Greenway, player/coach of the victorious Storm team.

“I think moving forward we could look at moving a domestic game to Wembley or the O2, but I think the appetite spreads wider than the capital. Look at what Thunder did in Manchester, 4,000 at the Arena. It's exciting.

“The growth of the sport has been huge. When I was a kid I had posters of John Barnes and Gary Lineker on my walls. So many girls are now going back after games with signed Storm posters for their bedrooms. How amazing is that!

“I always joke there are so many sweaty selfies of me out there but when you hear girls telling you they want to play netball when they're older, I think the sport must be doing a good thing, inspiring young people. It's pretty cool.”

Surrey's victory was especially poignant for Pamela Cookey, capping her return from an Achilles injury which ruled her out of leading England at the Commonwealth Games last year. Saturday's Player of the Match, whose attention now switches to the World Cup in Australia in August, has no doubt where the sport is heading.

“It's just going from strength to strength – 6,000 here tonight. Unbelievable!” she said. This whole season there's been sell out crowds across all the venues.

“The World Cup's definitely going to make a difference. If we can get a medal we're going to take netball to another level and that's what we're really focused on now.”