I didn’t ever imagine coming here and starting a rugby team

The GCU Women’s Rugby team is back - and it’s all thanks to the determination of one second year Biomedical Science student.

Jaia Blair started at GCU in September last year and wanted to continue playing her favourite sport alongside her studies. However, there was one slight issue…there was no women’s rugby team.

Fast forward a year and the situation looks completely different after Jaia received support from GCU Students’ Association, helping turn her dreams into reality.

The team are now preparing for their first full season together after creating a welcoming environment for all abilities.

GCU Student Life sat down with Jaia to find out more about what’s changed both on and off the pitch:

First of all, just tell us how you became interested in rugby?

“It was my PE teacher in Primary 6 who first got me into it with the school club. My grandad and uncle were also very rugby orientated, and my uncle went around the world to places like Fiji playing the sport with his school.

“I decided to give it a go and stuck with it. I played with my school and a club – it’s just something I’ve really enjoyed. In 2019 I actually got the chance to go to Dubai with my school for nine days to play, so it’s great I’ve had the same sort of opportunities as my uncle.”

So I take it rugby was something you wanted to continue when you went to University?

“Well there wasn’t actually a club when I started at GCU last year. There had been one before the pandemic but it didn’t come back when things returned to normal. I was going around Freshers’ desperately looking for it. I asked about and was told they didn’t have one so I just thought ‘let’s do something about that then’. I contacted Gordon McTweed, the Students’ Association’s Activities Manager, and got everything sorted.”

Some people might still look at rugby and think of it as a sport for males – how important was it for you to break down those stereotypes and have the club back at GCU?

“There are definitely stereotypes there and it has been challenging getting girls into the sport. The club I play for are the top team in Scotland (Stirling County) and it got to the point where you couldn’t actually play because lots of teams were dropping out due to lack of numbers – it was the same when I played with my school.

“The thing that I was most aware of when I joined GCU was that most of the other universities have a women’s rugby team, so I didn’t want our students to be missing out.”

First year is a difficult time for any student, so it must have been pretty challenging setting up a new team?

“I had the help of another girl, Louise, who was trying to do the same thing on her own. Gordon put the two of us together and we gathered all the girls we were aware of that played rugby and studied here. We had to get about 20 signatures for it to be registered as a club at GCU. It was halfway through the league campaign by the time we got the team up and running last year, so it was just about getting to a point where we had a team. We managed to get 12 signatures which meant we could put together a team for the Glasgow Taxis Cup, which was our big goal for the year. We went along and managed to win a couple of games so it was a good starting point for us.

“The hardest part of the whole process was probably getting everything together in terms of where we were training, how we were running everything and how we were going to get more people involved. It was really difficult in the beginning but we’ve had a big increase in interest.”

You had your own stand at Freshers’ Fayre this year, how was that for you? Was there plenty of interest?

“We managed to get about three full sheets of sign-ups! We got a lot of interest and it’s really nice to see people are wanting to get involved. We completely understand how busy life can be as a student. I finish at 6pm on a Tuesday and we train on a Tuesday night. We’re trying our best to work around everything and it’s going well so far. It really is amazing and it makes me very happy. It’s like my little baby!”

You’ve even managed to get sponsorship for the team as well, tell us a bit about that?

“We had a lot of girls reach out to us and tell us that they wanted to do something for their mental health. We’re obviously well aware of the benefits rugby can bring, but we decided to also get a partnership in place with SAMH (Scottish Association for Mental Health). It’s a really important source of support because it means that the girls have somewhere to go to if they are struggling with anything in their life. We want to offer our help in whatever way we can to our members.”

There’s also been improvements made on the pitch ahead of the new season?

“We have our very own coach this year. Chris Paton from Dundee Women’s rugby has come along and is helping us out. I previously did the coaching but I’m currently out with an injury and unable to play, so it’s been great having him here.

“There’s now a proper structure with everything that’s going on. We’re now in a position where there might actually be the chance to make a second women’s team in the not too distant future.

“We probably had three students at our ‘come and try sessions’ last year, this time we had 15 so there’s definite progress there and it’s all looking very positive.”

Am I right in saying the team are also looking at getting new kit?

“Yes! I saw the current kit and wanted to change it. It’s pretty much the same as the hockey kit and I’m wanting us to have our own style out on the pitch. I was contacting lots of places and Samurai got back to us with different designs. Everything’s still to be finalised but they are also going to provide us with jumpers and training jackets - it’s all very exciting!”

How much are you looking forward to the year ahead?

“So much has changed in the last year. I’m really excited with how we’ve progressed. We’ve went from not having a team to girls reaching out asking to join. That’s a big change and it’s a big achievement for me to be honest. I didn’t ever imagine myself coming here and starting a rugby team! I’m really excited for what’s to come.”

The GCU Women’s Rugby team train every Tuesday from 7pm to 9pm at Scotstoun Stadium. You can find out more on the GCU Students’ Association Website or by following @gcuwomensrugby on Instagram.

By Ross Clark     
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter