Girls rugby in Surrey is growing fast and we have put a great structure in place to support this and to help it thrive and grow. There are four main ways that girls in Surrey participate in rugby:
There is an annual invite for all of the clubs in Surrey to participate in the Girls Cup. For the Under 18’s & Under 15’s these are tournaments that start at a local level with the winners going on to compete nationally. At Under 13’s this is a local waterfall cup.
There are regular PU&P Festivals where any girl from 8 to 18 (whether or not they are a member of a club) can come along, get some great coaching and play rugby. Each one is a two-hour session and the girls train in their age-groups for the first part and then the coaches make up teams so the girls get to play matches. This applies to experienced players who are either members of clubs or may have played at school and also to beginners who can join in the matches when they feel ready to.
These are arranged between the clubs and there is an annual Fixtures Exchange to help fill in any gaps.
The RFU (rugby’s governing body) arrange regular festivals that take place mid-week at clubs around Surrey where the local schools are invited to bring girls along to experience rugby, play in matches and see what the local club is like. These have become a great feature in the calendar and the turnout each time is excellent.
Girls U8 and below- currently play mixed Mini rugby with the boys.
Girls U9 to U11 - Can play mixed Mini rugby – but a growing number of clubs are running Girls only sessions for these age-groups and these are a feature of the Pitch-Up-&-Play Festivals
Girls Under 13
Girls Under 15
Girls Under 18
Women’s rugby is also growing fast in Surrey with increasing numbers of clubs running women’s sections. There are clubs in Surrey at all levels of the league structure which means that there is a place for everyone, whatever standard of rugby they would like to play - from the 2015/16 Premiership & National Cup winners (Richmond) through to other clubs that just play non-league friendly matches.
Of course ‘contact’ rugby is not for everyone but many of these clubs also have members that just play ‘touch’ rugby, a non-contact variation of the sport geared much more towards those that enjoy the social side of rugby but enjoy playing a team game or just want to try something a bit different to gain a little fitness.