Girls' and Women's Rugby at Stourbridge Rugby

Worldwide, Women’s Rugby is the fastest growing area of our sport. More and more girls and women are playing the game and the number of followers is steadily growing too.

This is more than evident at Stourbridge Rugby. Three years ago, the section only had 12 girls. This has now grown to 32 across the four age groups - Under 18s, 15s, 13s and 11s - they even have their own team name - The Stourbridge Pumas.

The Pumas are now playing fixtures against other clubs on a regular basis and last season saw our first County Player in the North Midlands Under 15s age group. The Girls train on Wednesday nights from 6:30pm to 7:30pm and on Sunday mornings from 10:30am to 12 noon.

Recently, the Club started 'Women’s Rugby Fit' on Monday nights from 7:30pm. This is open to women and girls aged 14 and over. It uses rugby techniques to help with fitness, along with games of touch rugby to finish off the session. It has grown very quickly in a short space of time, with over 30 players most Monday nights. Many of the Monday night crowd are looking to move up to full contact rugby, so it may not be long before a Women’s team starts running out for the Club.

Over the last two years, the Girls Section has been fortunate to be supported by a number of businesses, most notably Heatflow Contracts Ltd. who raised money for the Girls’ training tops. This year, the Stourbridge & District Branch of Soroptimist International have offered their long-term support for the positive work being done at Stourbridge with female rugby. They will be helping all aspects of the Women’s game to buy the kit it needs as well as spreading the word about the Club through their extensive network. We’re very grateful for this much needed support.

If you would like to play, coach or get involved in any way with Girls’ and Women’s Rugby at Stourbridge RFC, please do not hesitate to contact Mark Denison on markjpd@icloud.com

The Matchday Experience at Stourton Park

The league season started in earnest on Saturday 7th September, with the First XV taking on Loughborough Students in National 2 North at Stourton Park, running out 31-20 winners against the University team. Unfortunately, it was a different story for the Lions XV who traveled to Midlands 1 West newcomers, Kenilworth, suffering a 31-7 defeat.

Match days at Stourbridge are always a whole Club affair, which creates a real buzz and atmosphere around Stourton Park and make it a great afternoon out for the whole family. From 12 noon, a two course lunch is served in the Club Room for those who like to start their matchdays early. The diners are usually joined by opposition fans and officials, with short speeches from both Clubs’ Presidents to start the afternoon off. For the many who prefer a less formal way to watch a rugby match, there’s always the ever-popular Club BBQ, which serves, delicious burgers, hot dogs and chips from the tent outside the Club House.

This season, there will be more curtain-raiser games played by our 350 strong Mini, Junior & Girls teams, who will take it in turn to entertain the crowds before the main event. Many of these players will then perform ball boy or girl duty at the main event - the BIG match.

League matches normally start at 3:00pm (2:15pm for Midlands 1 West in the Winter) and with our teams competing at Level 4 and Level 6 respectively, the quality of rugby is outstanding. The Stourton Park crowd is usually very difficult to quieten, which makes for an intense atmosphere at every home game.

Friday Night Lights

Friday night games have become the norm in the Rugby Premiership and have attracted big crowds to watch their teams under the floodlights. At Stourbridge, this is also the case, with five Midlands 1 West matches already scheduled for Lions XV on Friday nights. The first of these is against our close neighbours, Old Halesonians on Friday 11th October, with kick-off at 7:30pm. If you fancy making it a real night out, delicious locally-made Pie & Mash is served from around 6:30pm. The Friday Night Lights games have become very popular, with the mixture of rugby, night sky and floodlights adding to the already electric atmosphere at Stourton Park.

If you’d like more information about match days at Stourbridge Rugby, visit the website at www.stourbridgerugby.com or give the Club office a call on 01384 395000.

We look forward to seeing you at Stour soon! #ComeOnStour!