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Scrum Queens: The Story of Women's Rugby
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023** Scrum The Story of Women's Rugby , from 1880 to the present day charts the fascinating journey of women's rugby, from widespread social disapproval to the modern era of Olympic recognition and professionalism.
Along the way, the book takes in all the major moments in the history of the women's game, from groundbreaking games during the war, to the first World Cup in 1991 and a momentous first appearance for women's rugby at the 2016 Olympics. There are stories of the pioneers who fought to get the game played in its earliest days, like New Zealand's Nita Webbe and France's Henry FlÉchon, while the more modern-day drivers of the game, like England's Carol Isherwood, also feature.
Scrum Queens celebrates the success and heroics of the sport's top players and teams, with New Zealand's dominance of the game at every level alongside their long-time rivalry with England explored, along with the more recent successes of teams such as Ireland and Fiji, and the rise of the sevens game and its impact on women's rugby.
Along the way, the book takes in all the major moments in the history of the women's game, from groundbreaking games during the war, to the first World Cup in 1991 and a momentous first appearance for women's rugby at the 2016 Olympics. There are stories of the pioneers who fought to get the game played in its earliest days, like New Zealand's Nita Webbe and France's Henry FlÉchon, while the more modern-day drivers of the game, like England's Carol Isherwood, also feature.
Scrum Queens celebrates the success and heroics of the sport's top players and teams, with New Zealand's dominance of the game at every level alongside their long-time rivalry with England explored, along with the more recent successes of teams such as Ireland and Fiji, and the rise of the sevens game and its impact on women's rugby.
- GenresSportsHistoryNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
Published July 25, 2022
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64 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 28, 2023
**Shortlisted for the Lord Aberdare Literary Prize 2023**
Marginalised and denigrated for decades, women’s rugby union began to gain profile in the early 1990s, at least in some of its core areas – England and New Zealand, as well as in US and to a lesser extent Canadian Colleges. After early and spasmodic play – occasional players in the 19th century with a very small number of attempts to get the game going in the 1890s, intermittent and for the most part short lived attempts at more organised play through until the 1920s in both union and league. As with many other sports, women playing rugby came up against patriarchal and sexist assumptions – and it disappears from the historical record.
Evidence of women playing rugby reappears in mid 1960s, but again remains uneven and little more than occasional images and references that tempt and tease us at what might have been going on. It’s not until the early 1980s in Europe that competition begins to be intermittently organised. This exploration of, for the most part, women’s elite rugby focuses on this era – from the development of clubs in Britain and Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Spain and elsewhere in Europe. The narrative is driven by the growth of international play, with the growing formalisation of occasional and sustained competition.
Donnelly has a long involvement in British and Irish rugby as a player (in Ireland) and journalist, dabbling occasionally in the early days in administration of the game. She paints a picture, very Britain and Ireland centric, of a game that grew organically, organised by players and aficionados, mainly women with some men in support. In this strand of the narrative, we see the all too common story of women’s sport, vibrant and formerly independently organised by women, drawn into the structures of men’s sport, marginalised, underfunded and often set back by its ‘incorporation’. This strand is a tale of fickle decisions, presumptions that mirroring the shape of the men’s game is sufficient, blindness to the specific conditions and shape of the women’s game, often woven through with what seems to be a fear that women will pollute and denigrate some sacrosanct male space.
So, a key part of Donnelly’s narrative is way that those women organisers and the games players keep going in many cases in spite of the actions of the game’s institutions. Unfortunately, this strand is often secondary to the chronological narrative focused on the growth of international competition. This is the book’s real strength, although at times it seems to be a synthesis of match reports – which I admit is not my interest, meaning that I found arts of the book a bit of a chore, although that is likely to appeal to others. This organisational narrative is also British and to a degree Irish focused. Other countries are more marginal, even where the institutional structures are likely to be quite different (such as the USA’s grounding in college sport). The focus on national institutions however also means that little attention paid to lower levels institutions – especially clubs – after the opening discussion of formation.
This, then, is a useful launching of discussions of women’s rugby – with real strengths including an international reach, enhanced by Donnelly’s ‘insider’ position as former player and one of the sports leading specialist journalists: her depth of knowledge and network is impressive. Its reach and international ambition, however, means there is much that is not even considered. I’m looking forward to subsequent work that explores the game’s social history including exploring how it developed and took form in places of traditional rugby strength, confronting the game’s patriarchal power, as well as those places where men’s rugby is marginal (the comparative strength of the women’s game in Spain, Kazakhstan, Russia, Sweden or Brazil, for instance, poses all sorts of intriguing questions). I’m also looking forward to more work that considers the various forms that women’s rugby clubs took and take, as the basic building block of the game (and any sport, for that matter). There is so much social history here to be explored. There are also hints of other pressing issues, notably several references to brain injury and employment rights of professional players.
I hope the book helps raise the game’s profile, reminds readers of the struggles and challenges of building what is now a notable international sport played in both rugby specific and multi-sport settings; it’s a valuable overview of how it’s got to where it is. But in being that it also leaves us with so many more questions that need exploration, both by academic historians and others.
Marginalised and denigrated for decades, women’s rugby union began to gain profile in the early 1990s, at least in some of its core areas – England and New Zealand, as well as in US and to a lesser extent Canadian Colleges. After early and spasmodic play – occasional players in the 19th century with a very small number of attempts to get the game going in the 1890s, intermittent and for the most part short lived attempts at more organised play through until the 1920s in both union and league. As with many other sports, women playing rugby came up against patriarchal and sexist assumptions – and it disappears from the historical record.
Evidence of women playing rugby reappears in mid 1960s, but again remains uneven and little more than occasional images and references that tempt and tease us at what might have been going on. It’s not until the early 1980s in Europe that competition begins to be intermittently organised. This exploration of, for the most part, women’s elite rugby focuses on this era – from the development of clubs in Britain and Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Spain and elsewhere in Europe. The narrative is driven by the growth of international play, with the growing formalisation of occasional and sustained competition.
Donnelly has a long involvement in British and Irish rugby as a player (in Ireland) and journalist, dabbling occasionally in the early days in administration of the game. She paints a picture, very Britain and Ireland centric, of a game that grew organically, organised by players and aficionados, mainly women with some men in support. In this strand of the narrative, we see the all too common story of women’s sport, vibrant and formerly independently organised by women, drawn into the structures of men’s sport, marginalised, underfunded and often set back by its ‘incorporation’. This strand is a tale of fickle decisions, presumptions that mirroring the shape of the men’s game is sufficient, blindness to the specific conditions and shape of the women’s game, often woven through with what seems to be a fear that women will pollute and denigrate some sacrosanct male space.
So, a key part of Donnelly’s narrative is way that those women organisers and the games players keep going in many cases in spite of the actions of the game’s institutions. Unfortunately, this strand is often secondary to the chronological narrative focused on the growth of international competition. This is the book’s real strength, although at times it seems to be a synthesis of match reports – which I admit is not my interest, meaning that I found arts of the book a bit of a chore, although that is likely to appeal to others. This organisational narrative is also British and to a degree Irish focused. Other countries are more marginal, even where the institutional structures are likely to be quite different (such as the USA’s grounding in college sport). The focus on national institutions however also means that little attention paid to lower levels institutions – especially clubs – after the opening discussion of formation.
This, then, is a useful launching of discussions of women’s rugby – with real strengths including an international reach, enhanced by Donnelly’s ‘insider’ position as former player and one of the sports leading specialist journalists: her depth of knowledge and network is impressive. Its reach and international ambition, however, means there is much that is not even considered. I’m looking forward to subsequent work that explores the game’s social history including exploring how it developed and took form in places of traditional rugby strength, confronting the game’s patriarchal power, as well as those places where men’s rugby is marginal (the comparative strength of the women’s game in Spain, Kazakhstan, Russia, Sweden or Brazil, for instance, poses all sorts of intriguing questions). I’m also looking forward to more work that considers the various forms that women’s rugby clubs took and take, as the basic building block of the game (and any sport, for that matter). There is so much social history here to be explored. There are also hints of other pressing issues, notably several references to brain injury and employment rights of professional players.
I hope the book helps raise the game’s profile, reminds readers of the struggles and challenges of building what is now a notable international sport played in both rugby specific and multi-sport settings; it’s a valuable overview of how it’s got to where it is. But in being that it also leaves us with so many more questions that need exploration, both by academic historians and others.
January 6, 2026
An exceptional dive into the amazing - and for far too long, undiscovered - world of women’s rugby.
January 22, 2023
Another chance to celebrate women, and rage at inequality, inequity, and injustice.
Read
October 19, 2024Probably should have expected match blow by blow narratives but I didn’t. Comprehensive.
February 6, 2025
An essential read. Full of inspiring and frustrating stories.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews