We were privileged to have Sue Dorrington as a recent speaker. Sue is a sporting dynamo and with her three colleagues back in 1990, staged the 1991 Women’s rugby World Cup in Wales.

Sue’s dream and passion was to play rugby and she left her native USA to pursue this ambition. After settling in the UK and studying she discovered the women’s rugby team at Imperial College London. Her story reads of tenacity, perseverance against all the odds to play the game she loves. Back then rugby was a man’s game and the thought of women playing the sport was not supported. Sue joined the women’s team at Richmond RFC.

Through sheer will power and determination, the four women rugby players from Richmond RFC –  Sue Dorrington / Mary Forsyth / Debs Griffin / Alice D Cooper, with Debs at the helm – staged the World Cup in 10 months. For the full story read the Rugby Journal journalist account on this link What is even more remarkable is that they had no funding, no sponsorship and no support from the sporting world, let alone their male rugby counterparts.

Sue told us how the 12 nations who took part in the World Cup also had financial problems. The Russians had no money so they brought items to sell – vodka, Russian dolls, souvenirs, caviar etc. Stories such as the Japanese taking a bow every time a try was scored, not always their own. A few nights before the final the England team was turned out of their hotel rooms as they were double booked and had to sleep on a conference room floor. The list of obstacles was seemingly endless and attitudes unhelpful. The media covered the team with headlines such as ‘the happy hooker’ and trivialised their efforts rather than supporting them. Through all this they succeeded and made a difference.

Sue, along with her colleague Chrissie Donald from Winchester Women’s Rugby gave us a fascinating insight into the attitude of the time as detailed above, no kit for women either…Sue demonstrated her England shirt which was far too large and fitted her like a dress. In the end she cut off the sleeves and shortened the shirt to accommodate her 5’ frame. She admits ‘…once it was wet it was like playing in a duvet…’

In 2022 the accolade was delivered when these four amazing women were inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in Auckland New Zealand. As their story has now been picked up, in 1927 there will be a film about their endeavours and how they made a difference to women’s rugby. For the moment here is a short teaser for the film How to make a difference to the lives of women and girls in sport, just witness their legacy of women’s rugby today.

We look forward to our continuing support of women’s rugby in Winchester.