Friday, March 29Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Women’s Rugby: A Busy First Term

The first term of this year has been very busy for RHULWRFC. On the pitch they dominated their games, remaining undefeated for the whole term whilst off the pitch they have recruited players and organised other activities.

After successfully recruiting new players into the club during Freshers week, it was important to build the team spirit that can be so important in sport. This was accomplished in Women’s Rugby through training twice a week, competitive matches, quiet get-togethers and the club’s weekly socials. President Letizia Monteleone refers to this as one of her proudest achievements of first term as it reflects not only the eagerness of the new players coming into the club but also the friendly attitudes and the hard work of those who were already members.

The success of Women’s Rugby this term can be accredited not only to the physical capabilities of the team but also to the willingness of the squad to win and the enormous amount of effort put in from the club as a whole. In particular, the team spirit of the club is something which Letizia credits as being a key factor in the success the team have enjoyed on the pitch; the last two games of term were some of the toughest the team have conquered so far.

The club has had two high profile fundraising events this term. The first was completed by several members of the club donning beautiful false moustaches during the month of November all in aid of The Movember Foundation. The second fundraising activity was in aid of Trinity Homeless Projects and involved the girls sleeping rough for a night in order to appreciate the difficulties faced by those without a home.

Women’s Rugby took part in the “I <3 Consent” campaign, raising awareness about the importance of sexual consent. The club attended a workshop ran by the SU where topics such as respect were discussed with everyone. Letizia feels that this campaign brought the club together because it involved discussing quite personal topics openly with each other as a club, bringing everyone much closer together.

Women’s Rugby are looking forward to the new term for which they have lots of goals. On the pitch they hope to continue their success in both the leagues and cup competitions. Off the pitch the committee have been busy arranging exciting campaigns for the club to participate in, focussing on gender equality and body image. One final thing President Letizia was sure to stress was that the club are very keen to recruit additional players during Refreshers week as there are still games to come this season and new members are more than welcome at Women’s Rugby.