Nigeria’s Green Hawks have now stepped onto the international netball stage, but the significance of the team goes far beyond the 61–40 opening-match defeat to Kenya in Nairobi.
Behind the team is a remarkable story of diaspora initiative, persistence, collaboration and, ultimately, government recognition.
The journey began in the United Kingdom, where broadcaster Trish Adudu and coach Alison Akinrinlola had been working around a national initiative to identify Nigerian talent and explore how talented players in Britain could represent Nigeria.
There had been previous attempts to make this happen without success.
It was against this background that Trish contacted Mentoring Cmdt Ambassador Alistair, with whom she had worked previously, to explore whether there was a pathway to finally connect the players with Nigeria.
Alistair took the initiative forward, approaching the Director-General of the National Sports Commission, Hon. Bukola Olopade, and subsequently travelling to Nigeria to pursue the matter directly and meet with the relevant executives.
That engagement became an important turning point.
The National Sports Commission moved quickly. The Nigeria Netball Federation was formally inaugurated in May 2026, with Dr Esther Aluko becoming its President. The Commission publicly acknowledged the importance of diaspora players and the work being undertaken to bring Nigerian netballers abroad into the national fold.
The process then accelerated.
Through the Nigeria Diaspora Talents Development Committee, led by Dr Tunde Adelakun, trials, player identification and development activities were organised within weeks. The initiative was specifically designed to identify Nigerians of sporting ability in the diaspora and create a pathway for them to represent the country.
Coach Alison Akinrinlola, working with other experienced figures including former Jamaica coach Connie Francis, Dr Yinka Idowu and Trish Adudu, helped bring together talented Nigerian players across the UK and develop them into a team.
By June, Nigeria had assembled what would become the Green Hawks.
Just three months later, that newly assembled side was in Nairobi competing against established African netball nations.
That speed of development is remarkable. Blueprint reported that Nigeria had never previously fielded a national netball team and that the national federation was established earlier in 2026, with the national team assembled in June.
And so, when the Green Hawks walked onto the court against Kenya, they were carrying more than a Nigerian flag.
They were carrying the efforts of players who answered the call, coaches who believed in their potential, diaspora advocates who refused to let the opportunity disappear, administrators who organised the pathway, and public officials who gave the project institutional backing.
Mentoring Cmdt Ambassador Alistair’s role belongs in that history. His intervention helped connect the UK initiative with the National Sports Commission at a critical stage, opening the conversation that helped move the project from another attempted diaspora sporting initiative towards an officially recognised national programme. This role has also been reported publicly in connection with the formation of the Green Hawks.
Dr Esther Aluko then became the federation’s first President, Dr Tunde Adelakun and the Diaspora Talents Development Committee helped drive the talent-development and trial process, while Alison Akinrinlola and her technical team developed the players.
And Hon. Bukola Olopade, alongside the leadership of the National Sports Commission, provided the institutional platform on which the project could finally take root. The NSC has publicly stated its intention to use diaspora talent as part of Nigeria’s sporting development with the huge support of Mallam Shehu Dikko, the Chairman of the National Sports Commission.
The Director General of the National said the is extremely delighted to be at this tournament and are thankful to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the leadership of the NSC.
‘It was something I really wanted to do. To give our girls another option and another pathway to progress and success in sport. All the nations in Africa are embracing netball. And we have the ability, the passion and the girls who can stand up and do it. I received assurances and that was how we started’ Olopade stated.
The Green Hawks, composed mainly of players from diaspora Nigeria, in fact all from England, is led by Head Coach Alison Akinrinlola, a former England international netball player herself who also heads a netball franchise in the UK that secures pathway to the English Netball Super League. "I see many girls every week and every now and again, a Nigerian name pops up and I’m thinking “this is a good talent”. To now be presented with a chance to give opportunity to these talented girls to express themselves on the international scene is such a privilege, something we are all excited about and it goes beyond just qualifying for the World Cup. It is more for creating a solid base for the first national team of Nigeria to inspire even more girls in Nigeria to take up the sport and make the country a force to reckon with in the shortest possible time’.
The result is the Green Hawks.
The first match may have ended 61–40 to Kenya, (the Green Hawks actually won one part 12-10) but the larger Nigerian netball story is only beginning.
From a conversation in the UK, to a diaspora initiative, to engagement with Nigeria’s sports leadership, to the creation of a federation, trials, training and finally an international debut — Nigeria has moved from discussing national netball to actually playing it on the African stage.
For the future, that origin story matters.
Because when the Green Hawks eventually inspire young girls in Nigeria to pick up a netball and dream of wearing the green and white, they should know that their national journey was built through the combined efforts of people in Nigeria and the diaspora who chose to make something happen.
The Green Hawks have arrived. The journey continues.
