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Tewkesbury’s miles of smiles

Teri Watkins has been one of the driving forces behind women’s rugby in Tewkesbury for close on three decades.

She was one of the founding members of the ladies’ section at Tewkesbury RFC, she played for them regularly from 1994 up until 2008 and she captained them for three years.

These days she’s their team manager and fixtures secretary, and remains a hugely committed figure to the cause.

She’s also on Tewkesbury Rugby Club’s full committee –“She has been forever,” said her sister Lesley Neild – so it was richly deserved when the club made her their very first women’s life member in August.

“She’s done so much for the club over the years,” said Lesley, who is also one of the founder members of the club’s ladies’ section and a past captain.

So how did the ladies’ section come into being at a club where the men’s team were formed way back in 1950?

“We used to play netball for Dowty Ashchurch,” explained 63-year-old Teri.

“We used to go to Tewkesbury Rugby Club for a drink after matches, as did quite a few of the Tewkesbury hockey girls.

“We were all just talking one day when someone said, ‘Why don’t we start a women’s rugby team?’”

That someone was Maggie Cole, who, along with Teri, had started Dowty Ashchurch Netball Club back in 1978, so they had ‘form’ for starting up a sports team. What they didn’t have was any experience of playing rugby, but that’s where Carolyn Goodey came in.

“She said, ‘I used to play rugby,’ and it went from there,” said Teri.

Carolyn was Tewkesbury’s first

Tewkesbury play in Women’s 2 South West (North) ever ladies’ captain but although things moved very quickly right from the get-go, Teri admits that initially she had misgivings.

“The ladies started training in February 1994, but I didn’t attend any of the early sessions,” said Teri, “I said I preferred to play netball.”

So what persuaded her to give rugby a go?

“Tewkesbury’s first game was against Cainscross and we only had 14 players so my sister said, ‘You’re playing’,” she recalled.

So Teri, a full-back who later became a fly-half, made her rugby debut in her mid-30s and she’s never looked back.

“I was virtually a veteran before I’d ever caught a rugby ball,” she laughed.

“I remember the first time I was tackled, I thought, ‘I don’t like this!’, but I got up, dusted myself down and then I loved it.

“The first time I touched the ball I got the bug.”

And it was a similar story for Lesley.

“Rugby’s a great game,” she said. “I used to come off a netball court feeling frustrated, it’s supposed to be a noncontact sport but there was always plenty of contact. “With rugby it’s all out there. You get thrown to the floor, you get tackled, you get pushed around, it’s all legal. “Netball has rules which can be broken, rugby has laws and laws have to be abided by!” The ladies’ section at Tewkesbury currently have one team who play in Women’s 2 South West (North) and they also have a junior girls’ section which is run by Sarah Hayes. “We have 23 players signed on for the adults and 20 play regularly,” said Teri. “The numbers are quite good, although we’re definitely on the lookout for new players for both the adults and the juniors.” The ladies train every Wednesday at the club in Gander Lane, so what does women’s rugby have to offer for aspiring players? “Comradeship,” said Teri, who is married to former Tewkesbury first-team player Kev Watkins. “You can be arch-enemies on the pitch but at the end of the game you shake hands and we’re all friends in the bar.”

Full story online.