WOMEN'S GAME IN FOCUS

Sarah Rendell takes a weekly look at some important women players

Brooke Bradley started rugby after she was scouted by Exmouth Rugby Club during a school tag rugby tournament at the age of 12/13.

Her school, Exmouth Community College, hosted the competition at the club’s ground and since then she hasn’t looked back.

The 22-year-old says: “The coaches said they wanted me to try out for their team and give it a go so it all started from there. I was at Exmouth Rugby Club and then Exmouth struggled to get a team so I ended up going to Exeter Saracens for U15s and a bit of U18s. I moved around quite a lot because I struggled to get a team and I did my final year of U18s at Crediton.”

Bradley, a physiotherapy masters student at Plymouth University, then moved into the Premiership before the Premier 15s was founded in 2017.

“I started with Bristol Ladies, just before they became Bristol Bears. That’s because Exeter hadn’t been formed yet so I was having to travel from Devon to Bristol for training and games. Then when the Premier 15s was founded I went to university in Worcester so

I went over to play for Warriors.”

Exeter developed their women’s side and it was entered into the Premier 15s for the 2020/21 season. Bradley, who joined the club this summer, knows what impact having a team in the top league will have on the local area. “That’s really important for me. After doing that tag rugby tournament I was given free tickets to Exeter Chiefs men and it was the first live game of rugby I had ever watched. Now to be able to play at Sandy Park is really good. Having come through the pathway in Devon, it’s nice to know the girls here their pathway set up and they do not have to travel like I did at the beginning.”

Bradley says the support at Sandy Park is great and she believes the following that the women’s team have gained is thanks to the equality instilled at the club.

“It’s amazing, especially at our Wasps pre-season game,” she says. “They were all really behind us. Some clubs are quite dominant on the men’s side and not the women’s.

“I think that partly comes from the amount of support Exeter Chiefs themselves have given us. From the start they said they didn’t want two separate social medias, they wanted to publicise it all on the same page. I think that allows supporters to know where we are, when we’re playing and get behind us.”