Harlequin Ladies Football Club
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| Harlequin Ladies | ||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Harlequin Ladies Football Club | |||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Quins Ladies | |||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1995 | |||||||||||||||||
| Location | London, England | |||||||||||||||||
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| Official website | ||||||||||||||||||
| www.harlequinladies.co.uk | ||||||||||||||||||
Harlequin Ladies Football Club (Harlequin Ladies or Quins Ladies for short) is a London based English rugby union club. Their official home is the Twickenham Stoop, home of the Guinness Premiership team Harlequins.
Harlequin Ladies are an amateur club, and are completely independent of the professional Harlequins team. However strong links are maintained with their famous counterparts. They share the same name, wear the famous Harlequin colours and club crest and the Ladies use the Harlequins training ground in Roehampton Vale, West London, as their training and playing venue
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[edit] History
Harlequin Ladies Football Club was established in September 1995 when rugby playing Quins fan, Vanessa Matthews, bumped into a former Oxford University team-mate Kirstie Heslop, and the two decided that it would be a good idea to try to establish a Ladies side at Harlequins. With the help of the then Director of Rugby at Harlequins, Dick Best, and Harlequin Committee Member, the late Pat Currie, the idea soon grew into a team that was to win the league and go unbeaten in their first season.
Since then, the Harlequin Ladies have gone from strength to strength, establishing a highly successful youth side and forming strong links with the main club and the local community.
Within just five seasons, Harlequin Ladies had reached the dizzying heights of Division 1. There have been many changes to the squad over the years, but with a number of new recruits and former youth team ‘graduates’ joining the senior side, the team has strengthened its position in this league. In 2007/08 the Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW) restructured its league structure, positioning Harlequin Ladies in the Championship 2: South East League.
In August 2007, Harlequin Ladies became the first ladies side to become full members of the Rugby Football Union. Section 1 status was conferred on the club, meaning that they received full voting rights within the union.
[edit] Sponsorship and fundraising
At the heart of every Amateur sport is the need for adequate funding. For the 2006/07 season Bitter and Twisted, the award winning beer from the Scottish microbrewery, Harviestoun, has teamed up with Harlequin Ladies to become the senior team’s official sponsor. Not only has Harviestoun provided much needed funding to the club, they also provided the ladies with a source of quality imbibement after each match. The ladies also enjoyed sporting the eye-catching Bitter and Twisted sponsor’s logo.
However, despite the welcome sponsorship, Harlequin Ladies need to continue with relentless fundraising to support club activities. An annual raffle is a major fundraiser, where local business and individuals donate fabulous prizes, and the Ladies have also produced a number of fundraising calendars.
[edit] Publicity
For an amateur female rugby club, Harlequin Ladies have a particularly high media profile. Not only do the local press and rugby websites carry regular weekly features (through the Newsquest Series, Guardian Series and Rugby Times; websites such as Harlequin Ladies, NEC Harlequins, Come All Within, RFUW, Scrum.com and RFTG) but they have also received national exposure through programmes such as: Women with Balls (ITV), You Bet (ITV), Noel Edmunds House Party (BBC), Strip-Search (Living TV), Blue Peter (BBC), Rugby Special (BBC), Question of Sport (BBC), Daily Mail Magazine, Rugby World (IPC Media), What Car, Blue Peter 2004 Annual, The Sunday Times, Daily Star, and Nuts (IPC Media), Princess Nikki (E4), Celebrity Scissorhands (BBC), Holly and Fearne Go Dating (ITV), Ready Steady Cook (BBC).
[edit] The Youth Academy
The youth team was originally set up in 1998, with the late Sue Moloney taking on the role of Team Secretary, and other senior members playing key roles in the setting up and training the squad. With the support of local schools, the team attracted over 30 players aged 11-17 and soon proved itself a force to be reckoned with in the junior game., winning the inaugural Saracens Junior Girls Rugby Festival and the annual Camberley 10s tournament.
As well as proving themselves invaluable members of the senior squad, many youth team ‘graduates’ have gone on to achieve major success at County, Regional and International level.
After a 3-year hiatus, the youth side was re-launched in September 2006 as the Harlequin Ladies Youth Academy. In its first year, the U14 squad finished 2nd in the Thames Valley league, with many members also gaining county and regional representative honours. In the 2007/08 season the RFUW restructured the age bands in the youth game. The youth academy therefore runs both U15 and U18 squads.
[edit] Tours
Over the years Harlequin Ladies have worked hard to develop a strong social aspect to their game. In addition to a busy social calendar, each season is rounded off with tours for both the senior and youth team squads, and they have been known to return with silverware on several occasions. The end of season tours have provided Harlequin Ladies with the opportunity to meet and play against many new teams, as well as to forge strong intra-squad bonds.
[edit] CommunityHarlequin Ladies are also kept busy off the pitch, often in the support of local fundraising events. These have included the record breaking abseil off Twickenham Stadium for Cancer Research UK, and supporting the main club in their charity events. To promote and encourage participation in girls' rugby the Ladies hold frequent 'coaching clinics' open to all participants. These are publicised in advance on our website. In June 2007 Harlequin Ladies provided coaching and managed the London Borough of Richmond's Girls Tag-team, who were victorious at the London Youth Games. [edit] The Sue Moloney CupThe Sue Moloney Cup is a memorial trophy, played at the end of every season. Harlequin Ladies have taken on various opposition over the years in a game celebrating the life of a dear friend and team-mate. Sue Moloney was a true Harlequin Lady who gave her all both on and off the field for Harlequin Ladies. Having joined HLFC in 1997/8 season, Sue became instrumental in setting up the first Harlequin Ladies youth side and continued to coach them for two seasons whilst also captaining the Ladies second XV with strength and determination. Sadly, Sue passed away in 2000 due to a meningitis infection. Gone but certainly not forgotten, HLFC and the Moloney family ensure that Sue's memory lives on in the annual Sue Moloney Cup game, played as a friendly fixture very much encompassing Sue's passion and enjoyment of the game of rugby (and a few beers afterwards!) The Sue Moloney Memorial Cup is a hard-fought but good spirited game played annually with both sides determined to win the coveted trophy. Harlequin Old Girls (HOGS) are always invited to play alongside the current HLFC squad and have twice been able to field an entire side, beating HLFC on both occasions. Over the season, the winners have been:
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