History

Cheltenham Ladies RFC was founded in December 1991 by Fiona Murphy and were coached by Roger Brown & Rob Clarke.  After training together for half a season Cheltenham Ladies entered the league in South West Division 4 lead by Captain Sue Stanlake.  Cheltenham Ladies were promoted to Division 3 South after a very successful first season and after another successful second season were promoted to National Division II.  This league proved to be very challenging and commitment was at its highest with the girls expected to travel long distances to games and deal with the noticeable higher standard of rugby.  The commitment was rewarded with five very successful seasons in National Division II and a place in the Quarter Finals of the National Cup against Saracens, covered by Sky Sports.  This would not have been possible without the hard work of Team Captains, such as Gilly Scott, Julie Stodart and Maria Nordstrom.
 
Unfortunately due to loss of key players tempted by bigger clubs Cheltenham Ladies were relegated to National Division 1 (South) but finished top of the league to be rewarded with promotion back into National Division II.  Cheltenham are currently playing in National Division 1 Midlands and secured a very respectable mid-table finshing position last season.
 
As well as enjoying success playing 15’s Cheltenham Ladies have won the National 7’s Plate competition on several occasions with the much appreciated guidance from 7’s coach Roger Long and the support from our travelling supporters, including ‘The Wrinklies’.  The tournament is held over two days and is an enjoyable end to the season and of course there’s always our annual tour to look forward to!
 
It would not be possible to continue playing the standard of rugby at Cheltenham Ladies without the hard work from our manager Sue Burnham who keeps things going behind the scenes along with our President Pauline Mudway and the rest the committee.  We could not achieve what we do on the pitch without our coaches Mark King and Phil Amor who keep the girls motivated on match day and at training.  Thanks to you all.
  
Cheltenham Ladies are a committed and sociable team who would welcome any new players of any standard.  We train on Thursday nights (7pm) at the Prince of Wales Stadium.

Roger Brown’s Memoirs

My best memory of the Ladies team was our first ever game over at Shipton on Stour.  They were the scariest looking bunch of ’ladies’ I’d ever seen.  Obviously all farmer’s wives (and probably a few farmers in drag mixed in by the looks!).  The girls put on a brave face though, but that was probably more blissful ignorance than anything.  The Shipton player that most stuck in my mind was the front jumper in the line-out, as she obviously had mascara on and within a few minutes of the game starting, it started to run.  By half time she looked like a combination between a seventies rocker and an extra on Nightmare on Elm St!!  I still get nightmares now.
 
There were two other memorable events in the game, one was Sophie Clarke (Bamford then of course).  She had played hockey in the morning and so was already quite knackered before she started.  She managed to get the ball in a bit a space, but was still in her own half.  She had a clear run to the try line.  The problem was that by the time she had reached half way, cramp had set in on both legs and she slowly sank to he knees before disappearing in a bowl of dust on the half way line.  I also remember Rob Clarke and Chris Scott sprinting on to go to her aid.  I’m no physio, but I think Sophie probably milked it a bit as she had to hunks rubbing her sore calfs for what seemed to be far too long for cramp!!
 
The other memorable moment in the game occurred just after half time.  One of our wingers (forgotten the name) got hold of the ball and started running towards the line.  She couldn’t work out why the opposition weren’t tackling her until she saw us all on the touchline frantically gesturing to her.  She had forgotten it was the second half and so was running toward her own try line, hence the lack of tackles!!
 
We got a good hammering that day, but I think the girls who played learnt an awful lot, as the next time we played them we faired much better and it wasn’t long before we were hammering them.  That’s the way I remember it anyway!
 
It was quite frustrating coaching the girls team at times.  We would learn something one week and have it cracked.  Then return to the exercise a few weeks later and it was as if we had never done the exercise before!!  The one thing that couldn’t be faulted was the commitment shown by most of the girls.  We were tiny compared to most sides and although the skill levels usually left a little to be desired, the size factor didn’t really come into it.  In fact, it was a positive advantage later in the game when the opposition were fading, we would still be flying high (most of the time anyway).
 
One other memory was when we played Clifton ladies (I think?).  After the game they started to play some drinking games and one of their players stood on the table and proceeded to strip off her clothes.  When she finally got down to her birthday suit, it was remarked that she had her number shaved into here pubic hair!!  I’m glad to say it was No. 11 and not No. 3!!