Our AGM Roundup: Read all about it
The Girls Rugby Club’s primordial AGM kicked off on 16th November and we would like to thank all of our community for creating a sell-out atmosphere despite lockdown, with over 130 of you attending the zoom call!
It was great to see such a diverse turnout too, with people from all over the world, girls as young as six sat with their parents on the sofa, all the way through to current international players!
For those who weren’t able to make the meeting, here’s a brief summary.
We finally unveiled our founding Advisory Board, a group of visionary rugby women including players, officials, coaches and leaders covering 10 different countries from the UK, Syria, Ireland, Singapore, Australia, NZ and beyond!
With a special thanks to our host for the day, Alice Soper, all the way from New Zealand, who brought huge energy and passion to the conversation and got us through a full agenda in true style.
You can see the full list of names and titles here.
Many of our board members got a chance to talk about the wide range of issues they’d be championing in their role with the GRC, the main talking points of which you can find below:
Rugby in schools- Let’s find out how can we get rugby incorporated into the curriculum for girls, not just the traditional female sports of netball, hockey, athletics, and the like.
Development pathways – We want to open up the pathway into rugby to girls from all backgrounds, including disadvantaged and ethnic minorities, and analyse the effectiveness of traditional and non-traditional pathways.
Stereotypes – How can we combat these and show that rugby is for EVERYONE, break down barriers to entry in the game, show young girls that they can be feminine and a rugby player, or masculine and a rugby player. We want to showcase how rugby is one of the least judgemental sports out there!
Rugby across borders – We want to grow rugby within nations where it’s unknown or a marginalised sport such as in Singapore and Syria. Globalising women’s rugby as well as combating resistance, cultural norms and expectations.
Sponsorships – We will approach potential sponsors, study the growing appetite for brands to align themselves with women’s sport and plan how to take advantage of that.
It truly was a pleasure to have you all join us and share your own experiences. It’s part of our mission to not only be a voice for girls and women in rugby, but to give you a voice too. Consider these the first baby steps on the GRC’s journey and we hope you’ll stick with us as we grow throughout the next year and beyond.
So now the whistle has blown and we’re underway, what’s next?
We want to hear from more of you. Send us YOUR THING. That one thing, issue, or challenge within rugby that is niggling away at you. We are in the process of cementing our campaigns for the next 12 months and we want to make sure we’re taking into account your contributions. Together we can make progress!
Simply visit GRC’s Contact Us page and share your ‘thing’, we can’t wait to hear from you!