It's dark and cold on a week night in January as the Teddington Antlers women's rugby team take to their muddy pitch for training. Humming generators power the floodlights that barely light half the field in Bushy Park, next door to Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII's former home. Soon, clouds of breaths show how hard the women are working on passing and tackling, scrums and lineouts, rucks and mauls.
The harsh light picks out sweating faces as they run, bind, jump and go to ground under the eyes of a volunteer coach from the club's men's team. Just three kilometers (two miles) but a world away stands the ‘Home of Rugby,’ Twickenham stadium, where the final of the Women's Rugby World Cup will be staged in September before 80,000 spectators. The tournament will open in August in Sunderland with a match between former champions England and the United States.
Rugby's social media star Ilona Maher, playing in Bristol, aims to be in the U.S. lineup.
Meanwhile, the Teddington Antlers compete in the depths of the women's leagues, and have since 1987 developed players who have gone on to represent England in 15s and sevens. None of the current team will be playing for England this year, though many of them have already bought World Cup tickets. The Antlers are the epitome of grassroots women's rugby, playing for fun and camaraderie.
In their most recent game, with an audience of 30 friends, family and partners, they didn't score a point against the Sutton & Epsom Women. But they b.