Scottish Women's Rugby Union


The Scottish Women's Rugby Union was the national governing body for women's rugby union in Scotland. It was responsible for the governance of women's rugby union within Scotland. Its role was all encompassing. It went from youth recruitment, through administrating all senior based competition, through to the performance and management of the Scotland women's national rugby union team.
At their AGM in June 2009 the SWRU voted unanimously in favour of amalgamating the Scottish Rugby Union and the SWRU to form an integrated national governing body rugby in Scotland.

Executive Board

The SWRU was led by a volunteer based Executive Board. Board members were elected at the Annual General Meeting at June each year. The Executive Board was renamed from the Executive Committee in the 2007 AGM.The posts were annual in nature with the exception of the Chairperson, whose post was held for 2 years. Board members had to be affiliated with a women's rugby union club.
Past Board MembersChairperson and Scottish Rugby Union Council:
  • *Sandra Kinnear 2006-2009Vice-Chair:
  • *Rosy Hume 2007-2009
  • *Susan Young 2006-2007Secretary:
  • *Kate Ho 2006-2009
  • *Clare Murray 2004–2006
  • International Fixtures Coordinator:
  • *Kath Vass 2006-2007
  • *Ainsley Rawlings 2002–2004Domestic Fixtures Coordinator:
  • *Beth Dickens 2006-2009Youth Fixtures Coordinator:
  • *Louise Dalgeish 2006-2009
  • *Lesley Robertson 2004-2006
  • Historian and Veteran Representative:
  • *Kath Vass 2007-2009HE/FE Coordinator:
  • *Claire Fergusson, RHC Cougars 2007-2009Player Representative:
  • *Heather Lockhart 2007-2009
  • Student's Representative:
  • *Anna Panayotopoulos 2006-2007
  • *Emma-Beth Wilson 2001–2003
  • *Fiona Shanks 2000–2001
  • Ordinary Member:
  • *Allan Douglas 2006-2007
  • Treasurer:
  • *Ali MacKenize 2005–2006
  • *Sheena Buchan 2001–2002

Full time staff

In addition to the volunteer Executive Board, three full-time staff based at the Scottish Rugby Union assisted with the planning and delivery of the women's rugby union programme throughout Scotland. From 2001 to 2005 only 2 posts existed, the Women's Administration Manager and the Girls Development Officer. In 2005, in conjunction with the Scottish Rugby Union, the two posts were re-purposed, with another one created as a result. The new staffing structure consisted of a Community Manager, a Performance Development Manager and a Women's Development Officer.

Previous full time staff

  • Jo Wells, Women's Community Manager, appointed July 2006–present
  • Jo Hull, National Performance Development Manager, appointed Jan 2006–present
  • Car Stevenson, Women's Development Officer, appointed 2008–present
  • Barbara Wilson, First SWRU Administration Manager, 2001–2006
  • Beth MacLeod, First SWRU Girls Development Manager, 2001–2005
  • Claire Cruikshank, Youth Development Administrator, 2004–2006

National Competitions

In the 2010-2011 season, there were four divisions within the Scottish league: Premier League 1, Premier League 2, National League and the National Development League.

Premier League 1

Premier League 2

National League

National Development League

The National Development League consisted of a number of clubs which included:

National 7s competition

Annually, a National 7s competition was traditionally held on the first weekend of May. For five years, it was held at Portobello Rugby Club in Edinburgh. The normal format was for teams to be split into two pools, with semi-finalists chosen through the top 2 winners of the pools.

Scottish Universities Championship

The Scottish Universities Championship was not run by the SWRU, instead it was administered by the British University and Colleges Sport.
Winners:

Representative Rugby

In the 2006-2007 season, there were 4 tiers of women's representative teams run and managed by the SWRU, in order:
  • Scotland Women's, the national team
  • Scotland Women's Development, a development team which acts as a feeder to the national team
  • Scotland Academy, a squad consisting of HE/FE players which attend a number of skills clinics
  • Scotland U18s, the Under 18s team