Bristol women’s rugby team crowdfunds coach to take them to London semi-final

The Avonmouth Claire’s Ladies team has reached the Women’s Junior Plate tournament semi-finals in London
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

A Bristol women’s rugby team has launched a crowdfunder to pay for a coach to take the side to London for their first semi-final next month.

The Avonmouth Claire’s Ladies team is in final four of the Women’s Junior Plate tournament and play Welwyn Ladies in London on March 5.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It’s the first time the Shirehampton-based team has reached the semi-finals and they need to raise money to cover the costs of a coach on the day.

Vice captain Hayley Coachafer says they have had donations of around £500 in the first three days of the crowdfunder but if they don’t hit the £700 target, players will have to pay themselves.

“The £700 won’t be enough for the coach entirely but it will be a huge help and the rest we’ll have to pay out of our own pockets.

“It’s the first time we’ve entered any tournaments and normally we drive ourselves to matches.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Avonmouth Claire’s Ladies are in the NC2 league and they’ve had a good season. Apart from reaching the semi-finals of the Women’s Junior Plate, they are number four in the league.

Hayley says: “We’ve had a good season but we’re always a bit of an underdog because we have such a mixture of players.

“A lot of the teams have players from the university teams but we’re not that at all. We do have a few university players and grassroots players but we’re a mixture of young and old. We’re a bit of a hotchpotch team!”

Much of the team’s recent success is, according to Hayley, down to the new coach, Lucy Souch, and the team are hoping to finish in the top three of the league.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In the meantime, the focus is on the trip to London for the semi-final and Hayley says the team has been blown away by the response to the crowdfunder.

The Avonmouth Claire’s Ladies squadThe Avonmouth Claire’s Ladies squad
The Avonmouth Claire’s Ladies squad

“We’re still on the back foot in women’s rugby and we don’t get everything the men’s teams get. There are still a lot of things we have to pay for ourselves so we’re always putting our hands in our pockets for different things.

“The area where we play isn’t very affluent but we try to fundraise for St Peter’s Hospice and we also give a lot of hygiene products to women’s shelters, we try to give back to the community as much as we can.

“We didn’t want to ask for help to be honest because it’s not an area where people have a lot of spare money to put towards a coach which, in this day and age, isn’t so important when there’s a crisis going on with household bills going on.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“But the support has given the girls an added push to perform really well because we have the backing of the community.”

The team was named in honour of Claire Evans, a former player who died a couple of years ago, and Hayley says she would have been proud of the fact they are going to London for a semi-final.

“Claire and was a real promoter of women’s rugby in Avonmouth. She pushed for female teams of all ages, starting from under-12s. She was a big part of the team so this is very much in her honour.”

To donate to the crowdfunder, click here.

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.