Hundreds of ‘pioneers’ to celebrate new era of women’s rugby in Six Nations decider

As Twickenham Stadium plays host to the first-ever stand-alone women’s rugby match in front of over 50,000 fans, the hallowed ground is set to welcome 800 former players and allies of yesteryear to the home of English rugby.

Set up by former England captain Gill Burns, the pioneers will include divisional and regional players who played representative rugby pre-2012, and county players. Male allies will also be welcomed into the ranks.

 During last year’s Six Nations match against Ireland, Burns brought together a group of 250 pioneers plus friends and family to celebrate their rugby generation and all those who have helped the Red Roses get to where they are today.

 Burns, who played 14 seasons of international rugby, reflected on the high profile opportunities that were being offered to those who were privileged to play at the very highest level, allowing them still be involved and feel part of the journey.

“I felt sorry for the girls who had done just as much, perhaps behind the scenes or the girls, in my day they picked the first XV for England and everybody else didn’t get a chance, no subs. These subs travelled with you but we were very rarely subbed.

“I played every game for probably the first 50 or so caps and I just played the full 80 minutes. I was very aware other women had done just as much, put as much time and effort in and made as many sacrifices to be there who didn’t have an opportunity to feel part of the group.”

The former number eight originally organised for the pioneers to attend last year’s Six Nations match against Ireland. They did so en masse and nearly 300 of them turned out to support the Red Roses at Welford Road alongside friends and family.

“It was me just wanting to include the people who put all the time and effort in so they felt part of the huge celebration that is women’s rugby now.

“I certainly had my England cap which I was very proud of but I was very aware that these other people had nothing to show for it.

“We just decided to extend the Red Rose friendship group and we had what we called ‘Rose Buds’ so all the women who didn’t get capped but were still training with the squad and were arguably the second-best in the country in their position but never got to get a cap.

“We organised a huge order of honours caps. Everybody paid for their own as usual because that’s what we are used to doing back in our day and everyone was prepared to do it now. All these other players bought into buying an honours cap and several hundred people now have honours caps,” Burns added.

While Twickenham Stadium prepares to host a record crowd for a women’s rugby match,  anticipation levels are rising for the next public display of support from the pioneers.

“We started this about six months ago, just to rally the troops to get them all excited about it. There are a lot of people who will be proudly wearing their honours caps and I have said to anyone whose honours cap is locked up in a box, ‘Don’t get it out, just put a bright-coloured baseball cap on so we can have a wall of colour and celebrate the history of the game.

For Burns, her Red Roses and the Rose Buds, professionalism was just a pipeline dream. However, their tireless work has resulted in the current players being awarded full-time contracts and the ability to forge a career playing the game they love.

“To dream of having rest time and focus on all aspects of training would have been wonderful,” reflected Burns who was awarded an MBE in 2005 for services to sport.

“Many people often say, ‘Do you wish you were born in this day and age?’ But I wouldn’t change anything. The only thing I would be intrigued to know is what sort of athletes we could have become if we had the support that they get nowadays,” she added.

 England will host the 2025 Rugby World Cup and the RFU has set itself a target of selling out ‘HQ’ for the tournament.

 “It is definitely going to happen,” said Burns with delight. “Everybody who is there this weekend will already be committing to being there for the world cup.

 “I think tickets are going to be hard to come by and once they go on sale, the world will be surprised to see that Twickenham will be a sell-out for the women’s game.

 “The All Blacks are playing South Africa late this year and apparently, they have sold 50,000 tickets. Well, the women’s numbers are way above that and heading towards 60,000 so we are even more popular than the All Blacks and South Africa so that says massive amounts doesn’t it!”