We are committed to growing our game. Women’s rugby is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and we want to make sure all girls across the North West have the opportunity to take up rugby with our Girls Tackle Rugby programme.

The programme aims to create a clear pathway from our schools and grassroots clubs to the Sale Sharks Women’s team, encouraging more girls in our community to take up our sport.

The programme is split into four threads:

Sustaining our game

We will help our local clubs sustain their girls’ teams by driving interest from local high schools where rugby isn’t as popular. We will work with two feeder schools for each club, delivering a six-week programme for girls in Y7-9 plus an out of school evening session.

Growing our game

We will work with local clubs that have growing and emerging girls teams, but that are not yet fully sustainable due to current low numbers. We will work with two feeder schools for each club, delivering a 12-week programme for girls in Y7-9 plus an out of school evening session each week. We will also run transition events at the local rugby clubs to help the girls feel comfortable attending.

Developing our game

We will develop new girls teams in clubs that have shown interest in establishing their own girls team, but have struggled to get one off the ground. We will work with two feeder schools for each club, delivering a 12-week programme for girls in Y7-9. As with the growing our game programme, weekly out of school evening sessions will be held as well as transition events at the local rugby clubs to introduce potential new players.

Enjoying our game

We will increase interest in rugby and Sale Sharks through our Find Your Brave mental wellbeing programme, working with two feeder schools to each of the 10 clubs involved with this programme (20 primary schools in total).