WHEN your brothers have a sackful of England caps and won the Champions League with Manchester United, it might seem impossible to escape their shadow.
But yesterday Tracey Neville managed to do just that.
Her England netball champs achieved a feat that Gary and Phil never managed to do — winning a top prize for their country.
In a nail-biting match, England’s Roses won their first Commonwealth Games gold medal by scoring in the final second to grab a 52-51 victory over stunned Australia.
Helen Housby’s last-gasp penalty shot created the greatest result in the team’s history, prompting cricket legend Michael Vaughan to tell jubilant Tracey via Twitter: “You are now officially my No1 Neville.”
Head coach Tracey, 41, compared the victory to the night elder sibling Gary, 43, and her twin brother Phil helped Manchester United to win the 1999 Champions League by beating Bayern Munich.
She revealed: “Gary’s wife sent me a video of Gary screaming at the telly, going, ‘C’mon Helen, come on’.
“I was the same when United won the treble in Barcelona and they scored that late goal.
“I was on tour at the time and I was screaming in a room at 4am.
‘Dad would have said, ‘Never, ever give up’.
“As a family we just live, eat and breathe sport. It’s our passion. We support each other 100 per cent.
“Phil and I both have a World Cup next year so it will be a test of what we can do.”
Phil is only at the beginning of his managerial career, having been made head coach of the England women’s football team in January.
After three games in charge, his team finished second in the US SheBelieves Cup in March.
By contrast, Tracey earned her coaching stripes starting at the bottom with Team Northumbria in 2011.
She turned around the losing Newcastle-based outfit and was invited to manage Manchester Thunder later that year.
Four years later, England beckoned. Her team has since placed third at the 2015 World Cup and bagged gold at last year’s World Netball Series.
Tracey’s success is due to her dedication.
Just 24 hours after her dad Neville Neville had a fatal heart attack, she was at the side of the court for England at the 2015 Netball World Cup in Australia.
She wiped away tears as her ex-cricketer and football agent father was honoured with a minute’s silence.
Then Tracey roared on her team — and England went on to beat Jamaica 54-50 in the group game. She said her dad would have told her, “never, ever give up”.
Growing up in Bury, Gtr Manchester, sport was a big part of the Nevilles’ lives.
She said: “I loved badminton, hockey and tennis, but netball took a grip at a young age.”
And even during childhood knockabouts, her brothers treated Tracey as an equal.
She said: “I would have been a good footballer. I loved playing.
“My mum played as a striker. In the end I had to decide between hockey and netball. I’d made some good friends in netball so that was the option I took.”
Tracey played 81 times for England during her 15-year international career, mainly as goal attack.
As an international player taking home bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games and World Cup she earned just £742 a month.
Tracey was never dazzled by her brothers’ seven-figure salaries, saying: “I knew them when they were earning £29.50 a week.”
But she admits that the pay in netball is too low, saying: “A lot of kids drop out for financial reasons.
“I had great support from my family but I had to take different jobs to support myself.”
Netball, though, is slowly gaining traction. In Australia and New Zealand, where half of England’s first team ply their trade, players can earn around £35,000 per year.
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England’s star name, Geva Mentor, is a household name in Queensland playing for Sunshine Coast Lightning but slips back to anonymity when at home in Bournemouth. It is hoped that the Roses’ victory will change all that.
Tracey said: “These girls dreamed of getting to the final but a lot of it comes down to money. We need funding, we need exposure.”
With Britain’s most determined Neville behind them, you can bet that’s just what they will get.
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