Spotlight: women’s rugby

 

It’s the middle of June. With looming deadline dates smashing around my skull and exam stress raging through my veins, I’m sure you’ll agree: there’s no better time to play rugby. An unusual choice of summer sport, it has to be said, but naturally the weather complied and provided a suitably rainy day that any miserable and sadistic P.E. teacher would consider to be “perfect” for the sport.

The unrelenting drizzle lasted for the entirety of the two-hour practice, but spirits were not dampened and the wet pitch only added to the fun. I was raring to go, although the misplacement of my sports kit hadn’t done me any favours: I was modelling a pair of borrowed male shorts several sizes too large, with a worryingly slack waist band. My distinct lack of studded boots would also prove to be a rookie error that I would regret within moments of stepping onto the pitch, and I blame my trainers, not my slow-footedness, for an attempted attacking manoeuvre that left me flat on my back, legs dangling in the air.

The women’s rugby club should be renamed the friendliest sporting club on campus. I was welcomed by Claire Hogarth, the newly-elected president, and was made to feel at home not just by the team’s captain and scrum half Emma Nugent, but by every attendant of the practice. What surprised me the most was the distinct lack of women there. No, I’m not being rude or making cruel ‘butch women’s rugby player’ jokes; there were actually more men than women at the practice, due to dwindling attendance at this crucial point in the academic year.

There was no warm up. There were no drills or fitness exercises. Once enough keen boyfriends and visiting brothers had arrived on the scene to make up numbers, we simply played touch for two hours. And what great fun it was.

Having played rugby before, I was not hang-my-head-in-shame appalling, but I was embarrassingly unfit and kept on dropping the ball (it was slippery, remember…). But nobody minded, and I was even allowed to take a kick-off which, even if I do say so myself, sailed beautifully into the air to restart the game.

The club have had a fantastic season – bar the 60-7 loss at Roses. After winning the Northern 2B league this year and enjoying the subsequent promotion, the players can hardly wait for next season to start. “It means more matches, more funding and a bigger challenge, but one we’re looking forward to taking on,” Claire commented. “In the higher league there are more teams and so many more opportunities to play, and for new players to get some game-time experience.”

While their friendly attitude is permanent, the intensity of today’s session is not reflective of their usual in-season training, the team assured me. Averaging four training sessions a week during the autumn and spring terms, and with 35 members on their books, the club is bigger and better than ever before. “We’re always looking for newpeople to come play, whether they have past experience playing rugby or have never touched a rugby ball in their life,” she added.

It really was a perfect way to spend a Wednesday afternoon, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. In fact, go! Go and play rugby! Go and play rugby right now!