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
