Members of the England women’s national rugby union team said that young girls having role models is “everything” when they visited a rugby club on the outskirts of Bristol. Four squad members of the Red Roses visited Kingswood RFC last week, where they helped train primary school girls and get them involved in rugby for the first time.
Around 80 children from seven different primary schools took part at the event, which was attended by Natasha Hunt and Alex Matthews, who both play for Gloucester-Hartpury, and Holly Aitchison and Hannah Botterman from the Bristol Bears. Between the four players, they have more than 200 appearances for the Red Roses.
Hannah Botterman joined the Bristol Bears in 2023 and said that many of the girls who came to the session would not have had opportunities to play before and that it is good for them to see that the players can look different, with different personalities. She said: “A lot of the girls wouldn’t have had opportunities to play rugby before so a lot of them don’t know who we are, which is quite nice.
“It gives them someone to look up to, all of us are very different, so hopefully some of these girls will take inspiration from one of us players and continue to follow the sport whether they play it or just watch it. It’s important to get these girls out and active and out with their mates having a good time.
“It’s really important to have role models. When I was younger I don’t remember knowing any of the England players.. It’s so important to have someone to look up to and what’s so special about rugby is that there is literally someone for everyone across the pitch. There’s so many different personalities and so many body shapes.”
Hannah got into rugby when she was a kid having come from a rugby-oriented background where her family all played, but said that rugby was not spoken about much during her school. Recently, Bristol Bears have had more exposure due to, in part, Ilona Maher joining the team
Hannah said: “The exposure of Bristol rugby [to the wider public] has boomed since Ilona arrived, so it’s been important. It’s nice to see women’s club rugby gaining upwards of 10,000 people at games, previously in my England career we’ve had 2,500 people so to have that at club games is really exciting.”
“So many others with amazing stories”
Natasha Hunt said that the exposure brought by Ilona Maher has been great for the sport and hopes that more stories like Ilona’s can be told. Natasha, who played against Ilona when she made her debut for Bristol, said: “It was great to be part of the record-breaking crowd at Ashton Gate when Ilona Maher made her debut. What she’s done for the sport is phenomenal, it is brilliant to see the impact she’s having both on and off the field.
“We hope that people who are new to the sport have enjoyed what they’ve seen and being at the game within the atmosphere. Ilona’s story is awesome but there’s so many others with amazing stories of what they’ve overcome and what they are going through.”
During the event at Kingswood RFC, the young girls were able to take part in warm-up and training drills before taking part in rugby games. Natasha described the event as an “awesome experience” and believes that these events help to break down barriers to playing.
Natasha said: “It’s brilliant to see young girls given the opportunity to play the sport that we absolutely love and wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do otherwise. Giving people the opportunity to play the game and setting out events like this, which allow people to see the pathway from grassroots to elite level is removing the barriers to playing and we hope that we can do everything we can to keep the girls in the game.
“Having role models is everything. I grew up in the Forest of Dean, there’s not that many people that have come out of there which have gone on to achieve different things in their sports.
“So to have people who are genuinely accessible, who have the same sort of backstory and have the same sort of life like these young girls, and to see that you can have a successful career and to be able to achieve what you want to achieve, it’s everything. It’s everything to see that it is a realistic aim.
“I was lucky enough that my primary school had a rugby tournament. I played when I was quite young so that was awesome for me. I eventually got into rugby quite late on, I was 17 when I fully took up the sport and I have never looked back since!”
World Cup coming to Bristol later this year
The Women’s Rugby World Cup will be played at Ashton Gate in September, as Bristol will host two quarter-finals and both semi-finals, and the event at Kingswood was aimed at inspiring young girls to take up the sport and become interested, according to Abbie Watkin from England Rugby. Abbie explained: “It’s important to highlight that these girls probably don’t know who the Red Roses are but it is a fantastic opportunity to learn.
“With the World Cup on our doorstep, coming to Ashton Gate in September, these girls can say they met the Red Roses and can watch them play at Ashton Gate. This event is about introducing the girls to rugby and making sure they enjoy it, hopefully going on to play it after this.
“If you reduce the stigma of what rugby could be to girls and put them in an environment where they enjoy it and they’re going to get muddy and run about, then you’re introducing the sport to them without them hearing of the barriers.
“For Kingswood RFC, this is an opportunity to potentially recruit up to 80 girls, who will go back to their parents or guardians and hopefully say ‘I really enjoy playing rugby’ and they’ll know they can play at Kingswood. Their parents can sign them up and bring them back down to the club and that can grow the junior sections of the club. It benefits all.”