By Emma Griffiths, Second Year, English Literature
The Bristol Bears and the University of Bristol Rugby Club (UBRFC) have announced an official partnership, aiming to enhance performance in both the men's and women's squads, an important development to creating equal gender opportunities within the game.
In May 2024, Bristol Bears and UBRFC unveiled an official strategic partnership aimed at "developing and enhancing elite rugby performance programmes in both the men's and women's game". The formalisation of this partnership, which has already created talent like current Bears players Fitz Harding, Ella Lovibond and Simi Pam over the last few years, is a particularly exciting development for the University of Bristol's Women's Rugby Club (UBWRFC), as it demonstrates a tangible pathway to encouraging equality between the two squads.
"We want to see Bristol University students at our [Bristol Bears] games as well, and we want to see our players at their games."
Historically, women's rugby has faced significantly more discrimination than its male counterpart, both on and off the pitch. Ipsos Observer found that almost 3 in 10 adults describe themselves as fans of men's rugby, whilst numbers for women's rugby are less than half of that. Additionally, a study by Monash in 2022 found that 55% of women's rugby players felt that other women are deterred from joining a team due to the negative language surrounding women's rugby.
However, in recent years, women's rugby has been moving from strength to strength, with England Rugby (RFU) announcing a £12 million initiative to grow women's grassroots rugby in April 2024, and the Red Roses (the England Women's team) currently ranked the number 1 team worldwide. This increasing presence is also visible in the media, with athletes like the USA's 7's player Ilona Maher stealing hearts worldwide, through her incredible performances in the Paris Olympics and her empowering campaign of #beastbeautybrains online. This campaign, reassuring young girls that you can simultaneously be feminine and a formidable athlete, highlights the exciting cultural shift in the conversation surrounding women's rugby and sport in general.
The partnership with the Bears highlights a "joined-up... shared strategy" to "provide a coherent pathway for those wanting to pursue academic excellence alongside developing a professional rugby career" and ultimately "achieve promotion to the BUCS Super League". Dave Ward, the Head Coach of the Bristol Bears Women positions that "the biggest problem with women's rugby at the moment is young players under the age of twenty three not getting enough rugby minutes", and that "one of the biggest positives that we've seen from our program" is being able to actively tackle this.
The Super BUCS target comes at an exciting juncture in women's rugby, with BUCS recently unveiling a new Women's BUCS Super Rugby League for 2024/ 25, following the establishment of the Men's Super Rugby League back in 2016, and offers another chance to continue to raise the standard of women's rugby nationwide.
The excitement surrounding these potential results and developments is evident when we speak to vice captain Lieske Oomen and current Bears and UBWRFC player Jenna De Vera. "I think it's really going to push the girls at the University of Bristol, and really show what women can do in sport" Jenna said, crediting the Bears for "driving us to work hard and perform at that level" and making "Super BUCS ... a more realistic objective now".
"I think it's really going to push the girls at the University of Bristol, and really show what women can do in sport"
This partnership isn't just affecting the higher echelons of Bristol's rugby talent - Lieske also highlights "the growth of people who have never picked up a rugby ball before ... people are excited to play", a testament to the positive impact that increased visibility and engagement can have on changing the opinions and conversations surrounding the sport.
Lieske sums up the hopes for the Bear's influence as "more engagement, more players, build[ing] the club, show off women's rugby, get some wins". This simple tick list seems to sum up what unites both sides of this partnership: a shared desire and dedication to a honed training plan to help the club to a new standard of play. When discussing this move with Dave Ward, he stressed the need to "push at the right time, with the right program, in the right way". All of the coaches of UBWRFC, including Head Coach and current Bear Amber Reed, have come from the Bears pathway, allowing for a sharing of intellectual property unlike ever before, and causing a true equilibrium between the two programs - Jenna emphasised how the team "manage us so well with getting the best out of both programs, whether it's Bristol Uni game time, or whether that's at opportunities at the Bears".
This partnership seems to be one with infinitely exciting results, both for the Bears and for UBWRFC, and promises to be a truly inspiring move in standard and collaboration for Bristol Sport.
Featured image : @ubwrfc Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CrxlwXmAH_o/?hl=en-gb
