Blues

The establishment of women’s rugby in the UK began to take shape in the late 1970s. The Women’s RFU was set up in 1983, which was very soon after Heather Bunting, the first Women’s Blues Captain, arrived in Oxford. She matriculated in 1981 to study Chemistry at St. Catherine’s College before pursuing a D. Phil at St. Hugh’s College. A natural athlete, she earned her first half-blue in karate in 1986 and then captained the team in 1987. Her interest in rugby took flight when she saw a poster for the Oxford Old Boys Rugby Club, which was recruiting female players. She joined, learnt the game, and eventually competed in tournaments across the country with the Old Boys, or ‘Old Belles’ as they called themselves. It was not long before Bunting decided it was high time to establish a university side, which at that point did not exist. In doing so, she set out to recruit players by approaching the women spectators at the Men’s Blues matches and asking them if they would be keen on playing themselves. She later gained more students at the 1987 Michaelmas Freshers’ Fair.

When asked if it was difficult getting women involved, Bunting responded that mostly it wasn’t - those who were interested immediately enjoyed the game and committed their time to it. Training sessions at the University Parks became a regular fixture; Bunting recalled that “the forwards just loved it”, as well as their winger Anna Spash’s delight at being “allowed” to go out and get “covered in mud”. She also detailed spending hours in the Parks practising kicking over the posts with Clare Campbell-Smith, who would go on to start as fly-half for Oxford and convert the team’s first Varsity try. These were the early days of OUWRFC, but momentum was already building. Big things lay ahead for this team.

Bunting’s plan to organise a Varsity Match advanced with a chance conversation in a pub in Cambridge in April 1987. After having agreed to drive a group of cricketers to the Other Place for a game, she found the topic had turned to women’s rugby. It happened that Cambridge University had female players of their own, one of whom was promptly summoned to the pub to meet with Bunting. Planting the seed for the rivalry that would soon take shape, the two got to talking, and it was decided that their budding sides would play each other for the first time in history.

This, however, was easier said than done, and the two teams faced many challenges. When and where would they play? What kit would they wear? How would they get the support they needed? OURFC was not obstructive, Bunting said, though she did remark that she never asked for anything she knew she wouldn’t get. The growing Oxford Women’s team did not disrupt the men’s schedule by training at Iffley; all they requested was that the match be played there, CURUFC not yet allowing a women’s game to take place at Grange Road. OURFC obliged, and then the rest was almost all done by their own hand.

To this end, Bunting and her team dedicated hours to fundraising, creating and distributing leaflets, and of course, training. And then there was a question of kit. It was finally decided that the Oxford side were to play in the Men’s 2nd team shirts, because they were slightly smaller than the Blues’ kit, and still Dark Blue. The Cambridge women had been denied access to kit by CURUFC, and had to look elsewhere. They instead donned red and blue striped jerseys that the father of their captain, Sophia Pegers (now Mirchandani) had managed to get sponsored by Kent and Curwen.

OUWRFC operated as a separate entity to OURFC until the clubs made the choice to merge in 2015. Until then, they had played their Varsity Matches in March, as double-headers with the Panthers (the women’s 2nd XV), alternating between Iffley Road and Grange Road, Cambridge. In December 2015, however, the Women’s Blues played their Varsity Match as a double-header with the Men’s Blues for the first time, in front of a crowd of over 25,000 at Twickenham. Since then, even as the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted proceedings, the Women’s Blues have played their Varsity Matches alongside the men, in the same arenas, with the same crowds, and the same Club support.

While still being impacted by the same inequities as exist across the game, like greater coverage of the men’s game, many schools still not offering rugby as a sport for girls, and smaller crowds for their matches, OURFC are proud to provide complete equity in funding and resources for our women’s and men’s Blues. Both teams train and play at our Iffley Road ground, and have Tier 1 access to the University’s Blues Performance Scheme resources including Strength and Conditioning, nutritional advice, and sports psychology sessions. All Blues team photographs are proudly displayed on the walls of the Pavilion, with the women’s and men’s teams sitting side-by-side. Players are awarded Blues on the same grounds, with up to 23 Blues on offer for each team every season. A “One Club” philosophy is shared by all players, coaches, staff, and committee members: the men’s and women’s sections are co-equal, and provide support to each other, to the end of the Club.