Women’s rugby is a small community. So small, that an interview with Anne Onwusiri, of Black Girls Ruck, begins with the realisation that we have played against each other. Cue both of us with our heads in our phones, finding photos of the match: Epping Upper Clapton RFC (my side) v Hackney RFC (Onwusiri’s side) in November 2019. As we find photos of the two of us on the pitch together, high-pitched squeals of excitement fill a quiet pub in Hackney. There is an instant connection when you are bound by the common hobby of chucking yourselves around in the mud.
But that community can be harder to join when you are black or non-binary, and Onwusiri has made it their mission to use practical interventions, such as a hardship fund, to encourage more people from different backgrounds and identities to join the sport. As we share embarrassing tales of our first matches, compare our many rugby-inflicted ailments and discuss mutual friends, Onwusiri naturally reflects on their journey into rugby.
“I Google-searched for local rugby clubs and Hackney came up,” Onwusiri explains. “I grew up in Leyton so I know Hackney well and it’s a diverse place but I found it interesting that the rugby team wasn’t as diverse as the community around it. There were maybe five black women in the team and the rest were mainly white.”
Part of the appeal of Hackney was that Onwusiri had seen a photo online of the team’s captain, Lamees Idris. “It was nice to see a black woman [Idris] playing rugby,” the prop says. The team was entirely welcoming but as Onwusiri and Idris became close friends, they began to chat about why women’s rugby was a predominantly white sport.
“I’ve always questioned why don’t more black women play rugby. It sounds cheesy, but it definitely changed my life,” Onwusiri says. “I think it brings such a good feeling of community and strength towards you. And I noticed that within the team, it wasn’t that diverse and when we went to away games a lot of time it would only be like one other black girl on the other team.”
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Idris and Onwusiri host a podcast, in which they interview prominent black women in rugby, including Simi Pam, the Bristol Bears front row who is also an NHS doctor, and Sadia Kabeya, the England flanker. “I think the more we spoke to other black players, the more we realised we had experiences that not a lot of other people would really understand. Me and Lamees get mixed up quite a lot, even though we look nothing alike, which is an irritating thing.”
The podcast soon expanded into a movement, and they created the first-ever black women’s rugby team in the UK, bringing together 25 black women, including the former Grassroots Sportswoman of the Year Zainab Alema, to play in the Matt Elliott Cup. The team has the classic laid back but positive attitude of most touring sides. “We don’t train together, we just turn up to tournaments and see what happens,” Onwusiri, 29, says with a laugh.
For those not local to the side, who are mostly based in London, there is also a group chat of black women’s rugby players across the country, where they share knowledge and support each other.
There are few black women in professional rugby but those at the top of the game, including Kabeya, are advocates for the movement and have come to watch the team play. “It’s so important for us at the grassroots level to see black women at the elite level because it gives you something to aspire to,” Onwusiri says.
They have ambitions to see someone who Black Girls Ruck introduced to the sport excel in international rugby, and think the best way to do that is to make it easier for black and non-binary people to access the sport. They have set up a hardship fund to help financially assist people who want to join rugby but need some support. “Subs and boots aren’t cheap, plus anything else you need, so it’s just about making sure that we can help people overcome any financial barrier,” Onwusiri says.
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Making sport an accessible place is what Onwusiri does around the clock. Their full-time job is as the sports client account manager at Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ charity. Onwusiri works with Liverpool — the Jordan Henderson saga was “difficult”, they recall — as well as Manchester United and the ECB.
At the heart of Black Girls Ruck is a desire for more people to access the same community that Onwusiri and Idris have cultivated. Rather than change rugby, they want more people to feel welcome within it. “We want to build a legacy that shows rugby is for everyone,” Onwusiri says.
Black Girls Ruck has been shortlisted for the Changemaker award at the 2023 Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year awards, in association with Citi. The winners will be announced on November 2. To vote, and enter a prize draw to win a cruise, visit sportswomenoftheyear.co.uk/vote-for-your-chance-to-win