Peterborough Rugby Club celebrate 25th anniversary of women’s team with special reunion

PRUFC Ladies rugby players celebrate their 25th anniversary at Fortress Fengate (image: David Lowndes)

Peterborough Rugby Club’s women’s team has celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Over 100 people, including past and present players of the club, attended a celebratory dinner on Sunday (April 3) to mark a quarter of a century since Peterborough Rugby Club established its women’s team.

Money raised will attract ‘best talent’

Adrian James, 52, is the assistant coach of Peterborough Rugby Club’s women’s team and head coach of the women’s under-18s side.

He said the event raised both awareness and money for women’s rugby at the club.

He said: “The primary intention was to celebrate 25 years.

"However, while everybody was there it was also a good opportunity for us to put our hands in our pockets to support the club moving forward - ensuring that we can attract and maintain the best talent in the area for our ladies section.

“The money we raised is to enable us to support the girls in our current ladies section. We’ve got four age groups in our girls youth section which we want to feed into the senior team - as and when they are able to play senior rugby.”

Six Nations ‘really helping’ women into rugby

Mr James said that there are more women involved at Peterborough Rugby Club than ever before.

He credited the ever-increasing exposure of women’s rugby as the reason for more women and girls taking up the sport.

“The exposure of the 2022 Women’s Six Nation on terrestrial TV is really helping and the success of the England Ladies Red Roses side has also helped,” he said. “It really helps raise the awareness of the sport.

“We’ve got a fantastic set-up at the club. We go to schools and host events where we are able to attract female players of all ages.

“We recently hosted an event with girls from 17 schools - represented from the age of 11 to 18. 200 girls took part and we were able to raise awareness of female rugby as well as awareness of female rugby at Peterborough.”

Mr James established women’s rugby at Peterborough Rugby Club alongside coaches Stewart Llloyd, Justin Beaumont, Flo Talbott and Ade James.

The club trains every Thursday evening at Peterborough Rugby Union Football Club (PRUFC) in Fengate. Everyone is welcome - from Year 7 through to the senior team.