Rugger Girls: Part 3

Part Three of the summary of the history of women's rugby, from the book "The Girl in rugby," written by Jacques B. Corti and Yaneth Pinilla foreword by Serge Betsen, translated from the blog "Des Filles en Ovalie"

CHAPTER II: GROWING ANYWAY

(...) "In the early years of the decade things stay as the are - technically and training days, hours, reliability in general, all become habits of this new practice of rugby."

These steps forward, of course, attract numerous critics. Claude Izoard has not forgotten the atmosphere: "Often leaders told us we were crazy. Establish the Association and the championship was not easy. FFR did not want to hear about it. Nobody wanted girls. The desire to prevent all this was real " .

CHAMPIONSHIP

"Very quickly the idea of holding a first national championship appeared. This became a reality in May 1972 and the first final to be held on July 2 of that year, between the Adour and ASVEL Villeurbanne. The girls of Villeurbanne won 10-8. Annie Ferréol, who played at that first final, remembers: 'We played on a rotten ground. The grass was high. There were no stands. The locker rooms were prefabs. In fact, I remember better games against the Violets of Bourg en Bresse. That was the derby! We could not contain ourselves! "

"From there, everything started to move. The first Regional Committee was created covering Burgundy and Lyonnais. The Poppies graduated and formed an independent club, led by Marie-Céline Bernard (...) ".

To be continued ... "INDICATED AGAINST AND DANGEROUS"

Extract from the book "Rugger Girls", Editions Atlantica (2005), Written by Jacques Corte / Yaneth Pinilla B. Foreword by Serge Betsen.