A community rugby club is celebrating after winning funding to create what is believed to be the country’s first pitch dedicated solely for women and girls in the country.
As excitement builds ahead of the Women’s World Cup, Redcar Rugby Club is now planning to create a new pitch and changing facilities for women and girls following a huge growth of female participation in the club.
It all started after one girl Charlotte, now aged 15, became was frustrated in 2021 that she could no longer play when she became too old for mixed rugby.
Undeterred she approached her dad, Paul – known as ‘Jonno’ - who started the girls’ section which has taken off and now has four teams and more than 90 women and girls from ages 11 and upwards. This is also the first year two girls at the club have been picked to play for Yorkshire County.
Now the women’s club is actively participating in official Rugby Football Union (RFU) efforts to grow the game as part of the Women’s World Cup which starts next month with the opening ceremony taking place in Sunderland on Friday 22 August.
As well as holding a World Cup Activity Day in Redcar, three coaches, Yvonne Jones, Freya Atkinson and Danielle Gavigan will be taking part in the Grassroots to Global Forum at Sunderland during the whole week prior to the opening ceremony with delegates from around the world coming to together to work on ways to develop and grow the women’s game.
“There’s a lot of buzz around the club,” said Danielle Gavigan, a coach at the club. “Many club members are attend the opening game and other games in the surrounding areas such as York, we are committed and determined to grow the women and girls’ game in Redcar. We’ve just had some team members come back after pregnancy and, at the same time, we’ve also had women coming who have never touched a rugby ball in their lives.
These new facilities will give us our own space - and it shows how much we’ve grown and how seriously the whole club is taking the women’s game. We’re very grateful to the club and the council for this opportunity and we’re going to grab it like a rugby ball – with both hands!”
Cabinet Member for Climate and Culture, Cllr Carrie Richardson, said:
“This is just one of many sports grant funding projects but it shows just how important clubs like this really are for our community. It’s been wonderful to see how everyone at the club has worked together to bring so many people together. Sport is for everyone and I’m delighted that this particular scheme will help ensure girls and women right across the borough have access to rugby in a way that they wouldn't have had. Some of the coaches are visionary and ground-breaking and they can't be thanked enough. I’m sure these new facilities will only help the women and girls’ teams – and the whole club – thrive even more.”
Discussing the wider Grass Roots Sports Funding scheme, Cabinet Member for Health, Welfare and Housing, Cllr Ursula Earl, said:
“This isn’t only about improving club facilities across a wide range of sports. It’s about bringing people together, improving access to sport in communities across the borough and helping people improve their health and wellbeing. It’s an excellent scheme and I would like to congratulate everyone involved.”
Redcar Rugby Club received £31,750 for the new facilities which also enabled the club to successfully apply for a further £10,000 in ‘match-funding’ from Tees Million, part of The Tees Foundation charity
As part of the borough-wide sports grants scheme, the authority has invested has so far invested £320,000 to 19 local clubs. A further £180,000 of council funding has been earmarked to bid for match-funding from various sporting bodies including Sport England, the Football Foundation and local school sports partnerships. If the bid for £2.15m is successful, a total of seven new playzones will be created across the borough.
The investment is designed to:
- ensure clubs have fit-for-purpose facilities for long-term sustainability;
- increase participation in sport across the borough;
- improve access for women, girls, and under-represented groups;
- support the delivery of national and local health and sport strategies.
The funding is expected to deliver wide-ranging benefits, including:
- improved health through increased physical activity;
- enhanced community cohesion;
- crime reduction by providing structured activities for young people;
- educational benefits through the development of life skills such as teamwork and leadership;
- economic impact via local job creation and business opportunities linked to facility upgrades.
Each funded project has been developed in consultation with local communities and supported by key partners including Sport England, National Governing Bodies and local school sports partnerships.