Myself (Jenny Canner) & my friend, Maggie Waugh, used to play for Sale Ladies team at Heywood Road. My boyfriend at the time & Maggie's husband, were team-mates playing together at Manchester Rugby Club. We got to know the club quite well from watching games and socialising after the matches. We enjoyed the friendly atmosphere at Manchester and thought it would be a good opportunity to expand the provision for ladies rugby in the North West, so we decided to break from Sale in early 1991 to start a team at Manchester.
We recruited a few people to join us, and the fledgling team trained throughout the summer, and were finally ready for our first friendly match against Selly Oak, played at Manchester on 16th November 1991. Unfortunately the result of that first game didn't go our way, but the new players were not disheartened. They had enjoyed their first experience of a real match and they wanted more! The team has continued in existence ever since, having just completed their 17th season.
We have been coached by several volunteers over the years, most notably by:
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Jamie McLaren (my previously mentioned ex-boyfriend) and Chris Waugh (Maggie's husband), who were the first coaches when the team started,
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Keith Warhurst (Manchester club player & husband of ex-player Karen)
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Our current and longest serving coach, Bryan Fisher. Bryan has very generously given us countless hours of his time over the years to develop and train the team. These days he is ably assisted by Tim & Tom Fantom (husband & son of player Diane).
Maggie was the team captain in the early days, and we have been led by a few others since then. The longest serving captain was Jenni Deakin, who started playing rugby whilst she was at college in Cardiff in 1988, then came to play at Manchester when the team was formed in 1991. She became captain in 1995, and continued until her retirement from the game in May 2007. Indeed we believe she was actually the longest serving captain of any team at Manchester Rugby Club, which is no mean feat when you realise the club was founded in 1860.
There have been a few times through the years when we have been down to only a handful of players, and the team was in danger of being disbanded, which has been the unfortunate destiny of many other local teams over the years. But, we were determined that this would not happen to us, as we love the game too much for that. So we dug our heels in and weathered the storm through the hard times and now we have a strong team core and are able to field a full 15-a-side team on a regular basis.
Longest serving members still actively playing:
Jenny Canner-Farrington (founding member, 1991)
Pip Southern (started 1994)
Steph Foster (started 1995)