Scottish Women's Rugby Union

The Scottish Women's Rugby Union (SWRU) is the national governing body for women's rugby union in Scotland. It is responsible for the governance of women's rugby union within Scotland. Its role is all encompassing. It goes from youth recruitment, through administrating all senior based (aged 16+) competition, through to the performance and management of the Scotland women's national rugby union team.

The SWRU's counterpart is the Scottish Rugby Union which is the national governing body for men's rugby in Scotland.

Executive Board

The SWRU is led by a volunteer based Executive Board. Board members are elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) at June each year. The posts are annual in nature with the exception of the Chairperson, whose post is held for 2 years. Board members have to be affiliated with a women's rugby union club.

NB. The Executive Board was renamed from the Executive Committee in the 2007 AGM.

eason 2007-2008

* Chairperson and Scottish Rugby Union Council - Sandra Kinnear, Lismore WRFC
* Vice-Chair - Rosy Hume, Murrayfield Wanderers WRFC
* Secretary - Kate Ho, Edinburgh University LRFC
* Domestic Fixtures Coordinator - Beth Dickens, Murrayfield Wanderers WRFC
* Historian and Veteran Representative - Kath Vass, Watsonians WRFC
* Student's Representative - Claire Fergusson, Royal High Corstorphone WRFC and Ruth Clements, Royal Dick Vets LRFC
* Youth Coordinators - Louise Dalgeish, Royal High Corstorphine WRFC and Claire Cruikshank, Murrayfield Wanderers WRFC

eason 2006-2007

*Chairperson and Scottish Rugby Union Council - Sandra Kinnear, Lismore WRFC
*Vice-Chair - Susan Young, Watsonians WRFC
*Secretary - Kate Ho, Edinburgh University LRFC
*Domestic Fixtures Coordinator - Beth Dickens, Murrayfield Wanderers WRFC
*International Fixtures Coordinator - Kath Vass, Watsonians WRFC
*Student's Representative - Anna Panayotopoulos, Edinburgh University LRFC
*Youth Fixtures Coordinator - Louise Dalgeish, Royal High Corstorphine WRFC
*Ordinary Member - Allan Douglas, Murrayfield Wanderers WRFC

Previous committee members

*Clare Murray, Secretary, 2004-2006
*Ali MacKenize, Treasurer, 2005-2006
*Lesley Robertson, Youth Coordinator, 2004-6
*Ainsley Rawlings, International Coordinator, 2002-2004
*Emma-Beth Wilson, Student's Representative, 2001-2003
*Sheena Buchan, Treasurer, 2001-2002
*Fiona Shanks, Student's Representative, 2000-2001

Full time staff

In addition to the volunteer Executive Board, three full time staff based at the Scottish Rugby Union assists with the planning and delivery of the women's rugby union programme throughout Scotland. From 2001-2005 only 2 posts existed, the Women's Administration Manager and the Girls Development Officer. As of late 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 (responsible for the performance pathways programme) and a Women's Development Officer (responsible for Youth and Senior rugby).

Current full time staff

*Jo Wells, Women's Community Manager, appointed July 2006 - present
*Jo Hull, National Performance Development Manager (women's), appointed Jan 2006 - present
*Lindsey Booth, Women's Development Officer, appointed Jan 2006 - present

Previous full time staff

*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 League Competitions

As of season 2006 - 2007, there are three divisions within the Scottish league: Premier League, National League and the National Development League.

Premier League

The Premier League consists of 8 clubs (in alphabetical order):

*Aberdeenshire Quines
*Edinburgh University
*University of Dundee
*Hillhead/Jordanhill
*Kirkcaldy
*Murrayfield Wanderers
*Royal High Corstorphine
*Watsonians

National League Winners

*2005 - 2006 : Murrayfield Wanderers

National League

The National League consists of 6 clubs (in alphabetical order):

*Cartha Queens Park
*Glasgow University
*Grangemouth ( [http://www.grangemouthrfc.co.uk] )
*Lismore
*Melrose
*Morgan
*RDVC
*Saints, The (Madras College FP RFC)

National Development League

The National Development League (NDL) consists of a number of clubs which include (in alphabetical order):

*Berwick
*Oban Lorne
*Lasswade
*Stirling County
*Stirling University
*Strathclyde University

National 7s competition

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

cottish Universities Championship

The Scottish Universities Championship is not run by the SWRU, instead it is administered by the British University Sports Association.

Winners:

*2006 - 2007 : Edinburgh University
*2005 - 2006 : Edinburgh University

Representative Rugby

In the season 2006-7, there are 4 tiers of women's representative teams, 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 players which attend a number of skills clinics
*Scotland U18s, the Under 18s team

These teams are run and managed by the SWRU.

External links

* [http://www.scottishrugby.org/sru/community-rugby/womens/ Scottish Womens Rugby Union website]
* [http://www.rwcwomens.com 2006 WRWC Homepage]
* [http://www.247.tv/irb.php 247.tv - Live video and replays of all the Women's Rugby World Cup matches]