Rugby's Derry Girls showing it's no longer a man's game!

In 1887, Emily Valentine was watching her brothers play rugby for Portora Royal School. The Enniskillen College found themselves a player short and beckoned 10-year old Emily to join in to make up the numbers. She did more than that. She scored a try on her way to becoming the first female ever recorded playing the game.

Emily probably didn’t realise the significance of actions that marked Ireland as the unofficial birthplace of ladies rugby yet over a century later, the game still has a way to go before winning parity with its male equivalent.

The gap, though, is closing fast and City of Derry are playing their part.

Yet even with the time that has passed since Emily defied gender stereotypes some 60 miles and 133 years from the Craig Thompson Stadium at Judges Road, hers is a story most of the growing band of female players in the local club’s blossoming underage teams can relate to.

The ‘YOU play rugby?’ poser is an all too familiar reaction when the girls talk about a sport which is one of the fast growing on the planet with figures from 2019 showing more females than males had started playing rugby over the previous two years. Indeed, the number of registered female players had risen by 28% to 2.7 million since 2017.

It’s a trend being mirrored locally at City of Derry where the senior Ladies side have been bolstered by an ever increasingly underage section determined to follow in the footsteps of players like Irish international Stacey Lea Kennedy or Ulster stars such as Michelle Gormley McLaughlin and Beth Cregan. Indeed, another two of the club’s former provincial players, Glenda Mellon and Grainne Crabtree, have forged hugely successful refereeing careers in the game so there is no shortage of female role models at City of Derry and plenty determined to follow their example.

This Sunday’s International Women’s Day celebrations will see the Ulster Ladies train at the club alongside an underage blitz expected to attract several hundred players before the club’s Senior Ladies take on Queen’s in an intriguing Junior Cup quarter-final at 2.30pm.

And ahead of the packed programme, ‘Journal’ reporter Michael Wilson sat down with young Derry players Niamh McHugh (16), Lucy Curtis (12), Mia Heatherington (16), Amy Dixon (15), Ellie Barr (15) and Caitlin Sharkey (15) to talk rugby and why find out why they believe more girls should give it a ‘try’!

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SO, WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO CITY OF DERRY?

Caitlin: “I’d been at the club even before the girls’ side were established. I played a couple of practice games with the women but was never allowed to play matches because I was too young. We had a team at one stage and were proper excited but a year later it collapsed and I was back to square one. It was playing tag rugby in school that brought me out here in the first place.

Niamh: “Joe Gallanagh put on a taster session about eight years ago but only four of us who turned up to the club. My dad used to play with the men (Damian McHugh) so I did a bit of training with the men. My younger brother was playing and that got me interested.

Lucy: “It was probably the family connection that first brought me to the club. My whole family are big into rugby. My Granda (Derek Curtis) and dad played. My brother is really into rugby as well and when I was younger, I would go along and run around and see what they were doing. Sometimes I would join in without ever being allowed to fully play.

Ellie: “My mum has been playing since I was seven and I used to come down and train with them. I would go along and stand on the sidelines and take part in the parts that didn’t involved contact. They used to call me the ‘baby’ of the squad.

Amy: “My story is the most mundane ever. Basically I went to watch Ellie’s mum (Charlene, who plays for City of Derry Ladies) play a match in Malone and from there I fell in love with the sport.

AND WHAT IS THE NORMAL REACTION WHEN YOU TELL PEOPLE YOU PLAY RUGBY?

Caitlin: “It is like a super power. It’s the reaction you get and it’s always from the boys. It is like disbelief that a girl can play rugby but I really enjoy having that power and being able to say to them, ‘You know what, I do play rugby.’ They underestimate you every time but rugby helps your confidence and helps you know your worth. Every girl should feel able to play without anyone asking questions about it.

Niamh: “It definitely depends on who you talk to. People coming from a rugby background don’t normally have any issue with it but when I moved to Thornhill College to do my ‘A’ Levels, I was the only girl in the whole school that played. I did get a bit of stick from boys about it. Some would say ‘You’re a tank’ because I was a forward so I did get some stick for that.

Caitlin: “I was the complete opposite. When I tell someone I play rugby they say, ‘You’re too small. You’re so thin, you’re fragile; you wear make-up, you wear heels’ but I enjoy the physical challenge of the game. The great things about a rugby team is there a position for all types.

Amy: “I remember telling some boys I know that I was starting rugby and their response was, ‘You? Rugby?’ And then they usually laughed. They said someone would come running at me and I would run the other way and it did put me off a bit. It stopped me joining for a short time. I didn’t want it to be the reason I didn’t give it a go though so almost to prove them wrong, and to prove to myself I can actually do it, I gave it a go and I’m so glad I did.

Lucy: “We have a saying, that you ‘Grow into your boots’. As soon as you walk through the doors of City of Derry, you fit right in. I knew one girl before I came but she introduced me and that same night it was like we had all known each other for years.

WHY SHOULD OTHER GIRLS GIVE RUGBY A GO?

Mia: Before I started I didn’t know any of these girls but now they are some of my best friends. We look out for each other and rugby helps teach you that respect.

Lucy: “Rugby is a great way to deal with anything stressful, it takes your mind off things.

Caitlin: “Rugby is such a confidence boost. You strut like a peacock around school and I think people tend to give you respect because they know you play.

Lucy: “You get to know your boundaries. Like Caitlin said, there are stereotypes that girls are all ‘nails and make-up’. Some girls like those things which is great but that’s the opposite of me. I don’t wear nails, I don’t fuss about make-up but we have all different types here and there’s nothing to say you can’t like those things and play rugby, Caitlin manages it (laughs) and she’s a great make-up artist and a great rugby player.

WHAT DOES CITY OF DERRY AND RUGBY MEAN TO YOU?

Lucy: It means so much. The club gets us out of the house and meeting new people. Once you come to one training session, you know everybody very quickly.

Caitlin: “It’s like a big family.

Lucy: “Yes, that’s it, a family. Even if you stop for a little bit, if you come back you will feel like you never left.

Caitlin: “There’s no negativity within the team.

Amy: “Rugby is a family regardless of age or gender.

DO YOU HAVE ROLE MODELS AT THE CLUB?

Naimh: “I’m working very hard to try and make the Ulster set up and our coach, Michelle McLaughlin, has been a huge help. It’s very encouraging to see the other girls from the club who have played for Ulster and even Ireland. That shows you can do it. Michelle only started when she was in her 40s so it shows that age shouldn’t be a barrier to start playing. Michelle is a real inspiration.

Lucy: “She is fantastic with us. She is the one we all look up to. We would love to achieve what she has.

Caitlin: Michelle’s a real warrior. It is unbelievable to think she hadn’t touched a rugby ball before she was 40 but it shows what hard work does and how, if you put the effort in, it will pay off.

WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT GIRLS’ RUGBY?

Caitlin: “I don’t think everyone is educated enough about girls in sport. Even today, there is still a divide and still stereotypical attitudes about what girls should be doing. Those need to be broken. With schools, I think rugby needs to be introduced and played more. If the boys are able to play rugby, and other physical sports, why can’t the girls? Girls need to learn that rugby is not all about boys playing. They need to break out of that thought because that was the thought I had when I first considered playing. I thought, ‘I’m really not built for this. I’m not going to fit in. I’m going to be a pushover’ but it’s not like that.

Niamh: “There are other teams growing too which is great. Limavady players used to have to join us but now they are establishing their own team which is great.

Mia: When you look at where we were starting off, there are definitely far more girls playing now and hopefully that means more teams and more games.

Lucy: If you come to training and you don’t like it, then you don’t like it, it’s not your thing and there’s no problem but you’ll probably have made a friend or two just by showing up. If you come and enjoy it, then we’ll try to get you to come back. Paul O’Kane coaches in our school now and we have a girls team. People like Paul going into schools makes such a difference. Some girls would never see rugby unless they are introduced to it at school. It gives them a chance to get a look at the sport and judge it for themselves.

Caitlin: “It needs more awareness, definitely and Sunday should help. Girls need to know they can play rugby and not to be afraid to give it a go.

DO YOU THINK YOU WILL ALL STILL BE PLAYING IN 10 YEARS?

Caitlin: I hope so. It’s a journey. Every time you move up, it’s a new challenge so you have to build on what you know and improve again. That’s what I’m looking forward to, moving up to under 18s, start all over again and seeing where I stand.

Niamh: I really hope so. I’m working hard to try and be as good as I can

Caitlin: “I would love to think in the future we will be coaching the younger teams. Going to matches here is a pleasure. You watch the senior ladies and think, ‘Yes, I want to do that’. City of Derry is a club rather than just a team.

Amy: “We try to take the chance to promote the sport any chance we have and hopefully by that stage it will be even bigger.”