The changing face of English girls' rugby (update)

Further to the article last month, the RFUW have now issued an updated club list which includes several additionally teams - some of which are genuinely new, some just a bit slow with the paperwork. Clubs registered on the new list (which is not, unfortunately, dated) who were not there in October list are listed below. Clubs that are "new" (ie. did not appear on the 2006/7 list) are in bold:

• Beaconsfield Belles (Bucks)
  
• Bournemouth (Dorset)
• Cinderford (Gloucestershire)
• Crawley (Sussex)
• Darlington Mowden Park (Durham)
• Daventry  (Northants) - (U18 only)
• Durham City (Durham)
• East Grinstead (Sussex)
• Frome (Somerset) - (U15 only)
• Liskeard & Looe (Cornwall)
• Malton & Norton (N Yorks) - (U15 only)
• Old Northamptonians (Northants)
• Tamworth Wildcats (Warwicks) - (U18 only)
• Wallingford Maidens (Oxon) - (U15 only)
• Rockcliff (Northumberland)
• Winchester (Hants)
• Witney (Oxon)

So, to revise the numbers from the previous article, that means that (if my maths is right...) we now have:

• 130 girls clubs (119 offering U15 rugby, 114 providing U18 rugby) - up from 118 in 2006/7
• 75 clubs from 2006/7 list also appear on the 2008/9 list
• 43 registered clubs from 2006/7 are no longer listed
• 55 clubs are "new"

There are about 100 "viable" teams in each age band - ie. capable of fielding a team of at least seven on their own:

• 93 Category A teams (48 U15s, 45 U18s)
  
• 89 Category B teams (47 U15s, 42 U18s)
• In addition 51 "Category C teams" - ie. teams that would have to combine with another club to field a team.

Its a slightly improved picture compared with a month ago - and there are still a few clubs missing yet (*cough* Swaffham *cough*). However overall losing a third of a sport's registered clubs in two years must be a bit of worry. This is more than balanced by new teams, but think how strong the game would be if this hemorrhaging of volunteers, players, and experience was even just halved - surely its cheaper to maintain an existing club than it is to build new one? We'd then have a game genuinely and rapidly expanding rather than (more or less) staying where it is.

(The U15 and U18 maps on Google Maps have also been updated).