WOMEN’S rugby has taken off in Tamworth in leaps and bounds with more than 100 girls signing up for a local sevens competition.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Tamworth Magpies will host their inaugural sevens competition over the next four weeks, but it was the demand for women’s rugby which took the club by surprise.
“Initially, we thought just to keep the boys engaged over the off season, we would run a sevens comp,” Magpies president Sam Scott told The Leader.
“[And] on the strength of the ladies sevens in the Olympics, we thought ‘let’s have a crack’ and try and get two or three female teams together.
“We just put one post on Facebook and got over 100 girls.”
We just put one post on Facebook and got over 100 girls
- Tamworth Magpies president Sam Scott
The huge response means the club will be able to field 12 teams across three age groups – under 14s, under 16s and opens – in just the first season of the local competition.
And the female turnout for the rugby comp almost doubled the male registrations with six open grade men’s teams taking part.
“I think it’s on the back of the culture we’ve been driving the last five years and having a great family atmosphere has attracted people to the club and we’ve seen that with 100 females turning up for the sevens,” Scott said.
The Magpies president said the competition would remain a club initiative for now, but there could be scope to expand later on.
The call for female football has been heralded across the region with Central North Rugby Union announcing a women’s opens and under 18s competition would join the men’s Saturday fixtures.
Scott said the Magpies would enter teams in both grades and look for something for junior girls too.
“With the growing success we have seen with female sports teams in Australia, I think there is going to be more and more demand in female sports,” Scott said.
Games kick off from 6.30pm on Thursday at Tamworth Rugby Park.