NVL newcomers part 15 – London Ravens 

Formed: 2008. 

Social media handles: @flamingsixvolleyball (Instagram), @flamingsixvc (Facebook). 

Website: flamingsix.com 

The London Ravens have landed - and are ready to get their claws into the 2025-26 NVL season. 

They will follow in the footsteps of their men’s side, The London Aces, who first joined for the start of the 2014-15 season and have enjoyed plenty of success since then. 

The Aces have finished fourth in Division 1 in the last two seasons, having won back to back promotions in their second and third seasons playing national volleyball. 

They will be the blueprint for the new women’s outfit, who are also part of the Flaming Six Volleyball Club, based in Clapham, South London.  

Team Secretary Anne Schumacher said: “The new side will essentially be a combination of players from two teams that played in the London League last season. 

The girls are very ambitious to drive forward in the NVL. We have been thinking for a couple of years that we might enter a team but we never quite got our act together. 

“But now the time is right and we want to give our players more opportunities to compete, especially at National League level. 

“In the London League you can often come across players who you have played against before, but this gives us the opportunity to play against a new set of players who will have their own strengths and weaknesses. 

While it is increasingly common to see Super League and games higher up the NVL stream their games live, it is relatively rare for Division 3 games to get that treatment. 

The Ravens, however, are hoping that at least a handful of their games will be available to follow online. 

Anne said: “The Men’s NVL team started streaming last season with commentary, which gave the friends and family of our international players the chance to watch their games. 

“With us only having two triangulars at home, we are hopeful of getting the team who do that to come down for us too – it would be really good.” 

The team will get their league season underway on Saturday 11th October when they faced fellow Ravens, Essex, and Ashcombe Dorking in a triangular at St John Payne School. 

The team can also look forward to facing the likes of Richmond 3, Sussex Dolphins, Spelthorne Sharks, Invicta, Tendring and Dartford Warriors during the course of the season. 

“We have some established players, some of whom have played NVL before, and hopefully that experience is going to help us,” said Anne. 

“The players are all very excited about what is to come and they have been training hard, so we’re ready for the games to start now.” 

Find out more about the NVL by clicking here.