Women: Lisburn look to the long term.

I caught up with Ulster’s newest women’s team, Lisburn Women, last weekend when they made the trip to Randalstown for their third competitive league fixture in the Ulster Women’s Development League. 

Unfortunately Lisburn suffered a defeat, this time a 17 – 7 loss to Randalstown, but the fact that games have been close and that they have managed to cross the try-line shows that the the team are moving in the right direction, especially after having only been around just over eight months. 

I asked team manager, and player, Trina Dyer how it all started: [su_quote]

It was my idea to establish a women’s team at Lisburn Rugby Club. Having played rugby at school and seeing the success of the Irish Women’s team, in recent years, I realised how much I missed the game. 

When I got speaking to some friends and after contacting the rugby club I realised there was a real chance to re-ignite the Women’s at Lisburn. 

I worked really closely with some like minded ladies, Lisburn Rugby Convenor, Mike Knowles, and the Ulster Branch to establish the foundations in March this year. [/su_quote]

While this season is all about establishing the right environment for the team to develop and for the players to learn and perfect their skills, the players have already shown that they have the commitment to continue to improve. As Dyer says:[su_quote]

Even though we haven’t got a win yet we are improving each time we take to the pitch and ultimately our ambition is to move, from the foundation we have built over the last eight months, to the stage where we are able to compete against the more established teams in the province. [/su_quote]

While there have been difficulties in keeping the momentum going with a fairly sparse league fixture list I asked if the players have found that playing rugby has lived up to their expectations their expectations?[su_quote]

Absolutely, we have all met some lifelong friends and discovered previously untapped abilities. It has been a great experience so far and  genuinely hope that the team continues to move from strength to strength and we help to grow the sport. [/su_quote]

We wish Trina, Colleen, Donna, Zoe, Rachel, Illy, Emily Rose, Rachel S, Harri, Danielle, Katie, Emily, Amanda, Claire, Charlotte and Amy all the best for the rest of the season and look forward to catching up with them again. 

Pictures Below

[adrotate banner=”7″]