Loughborough Students (Lightning) RUFC

Loughborough Students (Lightning) Rugby Union Football Club are a women's rugby union club based in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. They are the women's team of Loughborough Students RUFC and Loughborough University. In 2017, they were selected as a franchise for the inaugural Women's Super Rugby season.^[1]

History

Loughborough Lightning were initially founded in the late 1970s during a boom in women playing rugby at universities across England.^[2] In 1983, Loughborough Lightning were one of the founder members of the Women's Rugby Football Union, set up to regulate women's rugby throughout the British Isles.^[3] Two years later, they hosted the American touring Wiverns rugby team and provided a number of players to the Midlands Select XV that played against the Wiverns on their tour.^[4] In 2009, Loughborough Lightning worked with the Nottingham Rugby Union in order to promote more men coming to Loughborough Lightning matches.^[5] When the British Universities and Colleges Sport rugby union leagues were formed in 2004, Loughborough Lightning won the league for the first three consecutive years.^[6]

In 2016, Loughborough Lightning bid for a Women's Super Rugby franchise, which was replacing the Women's Premiership. A year later it announced that Loughborough Lightning were successful in their bid for a place in the top flight of English women's rugby. This made them the only student team that was awarded a franchise to play in the league.^[7] This was controversial as Loughborough Lightning had not previously played in the RFUW leagues and Lichfield Ladies who had been in the Women's Premiership for 15 years were excluded.^[7]

References