Alton Rugby Football Club

Women's Rugby

Junior Rugby Player

Ladies' rugby started at Alton in 1991. Women's rugby in England was in its early stages then, and there were about fifty or so teams in leagues. Alton Ladies played their first match against London Welsh.

Alton Ladies played that year in the Merit Table and lost most games; winning just two at the end of the season, the following year they entered the league and finished about half-way gaining in experience all the time. In 1995 they won through the play-offs to enter Division Two which was soon renamed Premier II and stayed at that level ever since, apart from the year they won Premier II in 2001 and entered the top league in the country. Like most clubs before us that proved just too hard and we were relegated at the end of the year.

Over the years the ladies have had many players who have achieved representative honours. In the Ladies' game the representative structure revolves around regions and at one stage the South East Regional team had nine or ten Alton players every year. Irene Wilson played for Scotland several times, Beth Mills played for England A, Hayley Kemp for Wales A and Vanessa Huxford who started her career here before moving to Wasps was a regular England player for many years. Currently the Ladies have not had any Irish internationals.

Unfortunately, in recent years Alton Ladies have been unable to raise a side. However, we have several young ladies who along with players from other clubs play and train at Basingstoke RFC. Basingstoke RFC now have thriving womens squads at Under 18, Under 15 and Under 13. This acts as a local focal point for Womens Rugby in our locality and include players from northern Hampshire, including Alton. Alton RFC fully supports this initiative providing coaching expertise, pitches and training facilities when required. If you would like further information contact Andy Gay.

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