Lichfield Ladies

Lichfield Ladies Rugby Union Football Club is a women's rugby union club based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. They play their home matches at Cooke Fields and play in the Women's Premiership.[1] They are also the women's team of Lichfield Rugby Union Football Club.[2]

Lichfield Ladies
Full nameLichfield Ladies Rugby Union Football Club
UnionRFU

History

Lichfield Ladies were initially founded as part of Lichfield Rugby Union Football Club. They eventually managed to make their way to the Women's Premiership, after three successive promotions,[3] where they have been playing since before 2002. Lichfield Ladies have a local rivalry with fellow Women's Premiership club, Worcester Ladies.[4]

In 2009, they hosted a festival of rugby designed to raise awareness of the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup which was being held in England. The festival was also intended to gain more players for Lichfield Ladies.[5] Lichfield Ladies' second team plays in RFU Championship Midlands 2.[6] In 2011, they were the only team to defeat Richmond Women in the league. Richmond had previously gone unbeaten until they played Lichfield.[7] Between 2010 and 2013, Lichfield Ladies finished in third position in the Women's Premiership for three consecutive years.[8]

In 2006, there were plans for Lichfield to install an artificial turf pitch at Cooke Fields.[9]

In 2017, Lichfield were disappointed not to be selected for the new Women's Super Rugby. After losing an appeal, they commented that they considered the selection system had been flawed, not based on results, as Lichfield came 3rd in the Women's Premiership, more based on the promise of a future supply of international players as well as bias in the selection process.[10]

Notable players

Lichfield Ladies have had a number of international players play for them. Since 2005, England national women's rugby union team captain, Sarah Hunter has played for Lichfield Ladies.[11] Emily Braund, Victoria Fleetwood, Georgina Gulliver, Natasha Hunt, Justine Lucas, Harriet Millar-Mills, Emily Scarratt and Tamara Taylor all played for Lichfield Ladies and England after being included in the England Women's elite playing squad.[12]

References
  1. Mercury, Lichfield (2013-09-05). "Hunter hoping Lichfield Ladies can make step up to contend for crown". Lichfield Mercury. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  2. "Ladies welcome". Web.archive.org. 2008-12-10. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  3. "Spent force?; The move into professionalism was a game too far as so many clubs are being kicked into touch". The Birmingham Post (archived at Thefreelibrary.com). Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  4. Orchard, Sara (2013-09-05). "England captain backs revamp". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  5. "Lichfield Ladies Festival Day of Rugby". Sport Across Staffordshire. 2009-10-23. Archived from the original on 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  6. "Lichfield Ladies". RFU. 2013-08-22. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  7. "Richmond Ladies Crowned Rfuw Premiership Champions". Voxy.co.nz. 2011-04-12. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  8. "Women's Premiership set for big kick-off". RFU. 2013-09-03. Archived from the original on 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  9. Lichfield Council. "Playing Pitch Strategy" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-02-28. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. "Response to the RFU appeal against the decision not to offer Lichfield a place in the new Women's Super League for 2017/18". Lichfield RUFC. 5 May 2017.
  11. "Sarah Hunter". RFU. Archived from the original on 2013-11-12. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  12. Sara Orchard (2013-09-09). "England omit Watmore and Richardson from elite squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
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