WALES READY TO TAKE ON THE WORLD
The 2017 women’s Rugby World Cup gets underway in Ireland today and BEN JAMES looks at what we can expect from the Welsh squad...
WOMEN’S sport is enjoying the spotlight. And not before time. A media that has afforded it just 7% of all sports coverage is finally waking up to its news value as England win the recent Women’s Cricket World Cup, the women’s football Euros attract an estimated total TV audience of 165 million in more than 80 countries and the Women’s Rugby World Cup kicks off today in Ireland.
This focus on elite female team sport has taken decades.
Women haven’t just had to fight for recognition – when they have been deemed to be encroaching on traditionally male territory they’ve had to battle for the very existence of their team sport.
Yet I often wonder how much more level the playing field might have been if the female rugby and football players who thrived in World War I had been allowed to develop their sporting passions in peace time.
Women’s team sport grew out of the camaraderie of the munitions’ factories, producing rugby players like Maria Eley, the Cardiff Ladies full-back who was recommended as a candidate for the first woman ever to enter the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
Maria played in 1917, but just as the women who took men’s jobs during the war were pushed back into the home or domestic service, so their sporting aspirations were crushed.
Indeed it took another 70 years for a Welsh women’s team to exist as an international side as icon of the female game Liza “Bird” Burgess led Wales against England at Pontypool Park in 1987.
Welsh women’s football was even more popular during World War I. Most factories had a woman’s team. Some, like the Swansea National Shell Factory, were pretty good. They were unbeaten champions between 1917 and 1919.
And it wasn’t just a form of female recreation.
Crowds of 53,000 watched Britain’s top team the Dick, Kerr Ladies take on St Helen’s Ladies at Goodison in 1920. This was true spectator sport. So much so that the FA feared the women’s game might eclipse the men’s and slapped a ban on female football for 50 years.
Imagine if women’s football and rugby had kicked on from that point almost 100 years ago with the full support of the sporting authorities rather than being forced to develop as a kind of protest movement.
Yet, thankfully, through the decades there have been maverick pioneers of women’s sport who have taken on the establishment blazerati and advanced the cause. The Women’s Rugby World Cup that begins today has the full force of the game’s governing body behind it but the very first tournament in 1991 had no such backing from the IRB.
Twenty-six years ago, it took four determined Englishwomen and a warm welcome in the Welsh hillsides to stage the inaugural womWomen’s Rugby World Cup.
The quartet – Deborah Griffin, Sue Dorrington, Alice Cooper and Mary Forsyth – have been telling their remarkable story on the RFU website this week.
At the time they created the event from scratch, they were all part of Richmond Women’s Rugby Club, as Dorrington, who also played hooker for England, explains: “A few women who were champions in women’s rugby in the 1980s had got wind that New Zealand wanted to do some sort of big tournament and call it a world championship. To be honest, we thought that because a lot of the teams were in Europe in terms of time, access and money, it wouldn’t be acceptable for a lot of these teams to get to New Zealand.
“Deborah Griffin, who was the chair of the Women’s Rugby Football Union, because back then we weren’t part of the RFU, got wind of this and we thought we would create a Women’s Rugby World Cup.”
But the task couldn’t have been more daunting for the four women who began without funds and official backing.
“No-one said ‘that’s a really good idea, let’s do it.’ The IRB said they would not sanction or support it,” Dorrington recalls. Not that this put them off. “We didn’t need approval to play the game we loved. It made perfect sense that we had these international teams out there and we brought them all together for this championship.”
And there was one place that embraced their vision.
“We had absolutely no money, none whatsoever,” says Dorrington. “We had to create everything as cost efficiently as possible. We wanted to bring it to a tight rugby commuinity and that was Wales for us.”
When the four England players approached the spirtual home of the game, the Sports Council, Cardiff City Council and the broader rugby community responded, helping to cover some of the costs and provide venues for 12 teams across an eight-day schedule.
Games were hosted at Aberavon, Llanharan, Pontypool, Swansea, and Glamorgan Wanderers with the semis and final taking place at Cardiff RFC. But for some of the women players converging on Wales for this historic tournament, there were more challenges off the field than on it.
Forbidden from taking currency out of their communist country, the USSR team arrived broke – but with a cunning plan, as The Guardian of April 9, 1991, reported: “Customs officers called on the headquarters of the Soviet women’s rugby team in Cardiff yesterday after reports that the tourists were penniless and had been selling cut-price vodka and caviar in an attempt to pay their expenses during the inaugural women’s World Cup. The women were said to have travelled through Heathrow Airport’s green channel with five ft cases of liquor, but at South Glamorgan Institute yesterday customs investigators found it almost impossible to break the language barrier and eventually left.
“It is understood no charges were brought against the team, who only had enough money for their air fares and hoped to barter their goods for food during the week-long tournament in South Wales. But half the goods went missing at Moscow Airport and since arriving they had resorted to rationing their breakfast meal and sold some jerseys and sportswear to raise cash. Yet even while Customs was questioning them, offers of help were coming in. Companies and individuals contacted the party with offers of cash, meals and transport. A pie manufacturer and a restaurant owner came forward to give the girls a square meal, an anonymous donor offered £1200 towards their expenses
and the mother of Bess Evans, the Welsh women’s hooker, donated £100.”
These acts of Cymric kindness came too late to build up Soviet stamina for their game against the Netherlands. Yet though they lost 28-0, they showed a profit on touchline sales of souvenirs.
The male-dominated sports media wrote respectful match reports but also exploited the tournament’s novelty value with suitable colour.
Describing the opening game between New Zealand and Canada at Glamorgan Wanderers, Paul Nelson of The Sunday Times observed: “The sight of 15 women performing the traditional Maori tribal dance, a ritual challenge which for centuries has remained the preserve of men, will live long in the memory. It was slick, done with conviction and it said in a more eloquent manner than any words could that the women’s game has arrived.”
Japan, who included a player of just four feet nine inches in their squad, were catching the eye of Times diarist Simon Barnes: “Japan will not contest it but they are unquestionably the team of the tournament,” he mused.
“They have played three matches without scoring a point: they conceded 62 points to France, 37 to Sweden and 30 to Spain. They have carried off these defeats with style. Every single time a try has been scored against them, they have performed a sporting bow to the scorer. After every game, each Japanese player has sought out her opposite number and presented her with a small gift of an origami somethingor-other. All members of the team play in scrum-caps: the stand-off plays with hers tucked into the back of her shorts. I trust all these innovations will be adopted by the All Blacks for the lesser event, the men’s Rugby World Cup this autumn.”
If Barnes was making mischief with customs from the Land of the Rising Sun, other hacks were still getting to grips with the fact women could actually play rugby in the first place. In a Times piece headed “Women flock to valley of the mauls” Alix Ramsey enlightnened potentially bemused readers: “This is not a genteel sport. These women play to win but it is not a game played by female navvies. A quick check down the player-profiles reveals a host of engineers, solicitors and PR executives. But in the twinkling of an eye, they shed their shoulder pads and high heels and put on shin pads and gumshields.”
Thankfully, Welsh skipper Liza Burgess was on hand to explain further that there was little difference between “the level of aggression and commitment shown in in the men’s and women’s game”.
The No.8 told him: “As a forward, I think it is just as rough and tumble as the men’s game. What you want to do is get in there and win the ball. The game is all about that. If you play a sport, the ultimate aim is to win. Without that, it is not a sport.”
Burgess’ Wales were ousted by New Zealand, who in turn were dispatched by USA 7-0 in the semis. The Americans faced England in the final. The latter, coached in their later matches by England hooker Brian Moore, did not enjoy the most comfortable build-up.
“Halfway through the World Cup the hotel realised they had a double booking,” says Dorrington.
“We were three days from the final and we’re looking for bed and breakfasts but they allowed us to sleep in sleeping bags in the conference room, it was just a nightmare.”
After a final that saw a powerful USA side become the first world champions in women’s rugby union, the English quartet who organised the tournament faced more sleepless nights when the bills came in.
They were summoned to see RFU secretary Dudley Wood to discuss the £30,000 debt.
“Dudley said ‘well how are you going to pay for this?’ and we said from fundraising, washing cars, selling cakes or whatever we had to do,” says Dorrington. “We explained that the Russians had left us with a lot of debt as they didn’t pay and then we had the tournament debt. The biggest bill was from a sponsorship agency that we had brought on board. Dudley knew them so he picked up the phone and said ‘they’re not paying it and don’t you dare invoice them’ and then hung up on them. The next thing he did was get his cheque book out the drawer, asked who we owed money to and he paid the bill. So we came out with nothing but Dudley stepped in and helped us. We had to do what we had to do and it was incredible. It was a real journey that we look back on and think ‘oh my God’.”
An incredible journey indeed. And one that has led to the eighth Women’s Rugby World Cup that kicks off today in a global spotlight the players of 1991 could only dream of.
But, like generations past who fought to play the game they loved, the passion, belief and courage of four women 26 years ago – aided by the warmth of the Welsh rugby community – ensured the players of the present can realise their dreams.
So what’s the tournament? Well, it’s the big one - the World Cup and, given the growth of women’s rugby in recent years, it’s set to be the biggest one yet.
With rugby sevens having captured the hearts and minds of fans everywhere at last year’s Olympics, and Great Britain women having taken home a historic gold in Rio, anticipation for the 15-a-side showpiece is higher than it’s ever been. Where is it being played? The tournament is being held in Ireland - with pool stage matches being played at the University College Dublin site and the semi-finals and final taking place at Queen’s University Belfast and Kingspan Stadium - home of Ulster - in Belfast.
The tournament kicks off today and draws to a close on August 26. Who are Wales playing and when? Wales kick off their tournament with the daunting prospect of New Zealand on Wednesday before facing 2014 finalists Canada on Sunday 13 August - both matches being played at Billings Park at the University College campus.
Wales will finish their pool stage fixtures against Hong Kong at the University College Dublin Bowl on Thursday 17 August. Wales Women’s Pool A fixtures: New Zealand v Wales, Wednesday 9th August, 14:45 Canada v Wales, Sunday 13th August, 17:00 Wales v Hong Kong, Thursday 17th August, 17:15 Are they being televised? Many of the matches are being televised on ITV, but if you want to watch Wales, then all of their fixtures are available to stream on the S4C Chwaraeon Facebook page. How good are Wales? After a tough Six Nations campaign which saw Wales pick up just one win, warm-up matches against Japan, Spain and reigning champions England have boosted the confidence within the group.
If their pack can get parity, there is enough talent in the backline to cause any team at this tournament problems. Who’s the coach? Wales are coached by former dual-code international Rowland Phillips - who won ten caps for the national side in the late 1980s before switching to league.
His coaching career has seen him hold posts with Neath, Ebbw Vale, Aironi, London Welsh, the Ospreys and Wales as well as star on Jonathan Davies’ popular S4C chat show ‘Jonathan’. And who’s the captain? Carys Phillips, and before you ask, yes, she just so happens to be Rowland’s daughter. The hooker has already been capped 31 times by her country after making her debut against Ireland in the first round of the 2013 Women’s Six Nations and was handed the captaincy three years later.
Currently plying her trade at Bristol Ladies, Phillips has also enjoyed spells at Neath Athletic and Ospreys.
Having bounced back from a series neck injury to lead the side out at the Six Nations earlier in the year, Phillips is clearly a trusted skipper and, at 24, arguably has some of her best years ahead of her. Star players? Winger Jasmin Joyce is expected to be one of the main Welsh threats in this tournament, although she is arguably something of an unknown quantity at international level.
The 21-year-old only has two Wales caps to her name so far, but has nevertheless been one of the most discussed players in the Welsh women’s game recently.
Her impressive record at Regional level with the Scarlets saw become the only Welsh member of an otherwise all-English Great Britain Olympic Sevens side, and she is well known for her fiery pace and ability to pick out a gap.
Her handling could well be something of a weakness, but once she has the ball under control she is a real threat going forward.
Fly-half Elinor Snowsill is known for her skills - and on occasion they have made her the star of some viral videos.
First up, she donned a disguise to trick some of the Wales’ men team, including Sam Warburton and Gethin Jenkins, with her rugby flair.
And, more recently, she put former England internationals Ben Kay and Ugo Monye to shame with her training ground trick shot alongside Bristol teammate Amber Reed.