Newest Interviews: Rocky Clark!

come in a little later than expected but all add massive amounts to my MMP.

On Monday I had the opportunity to speak to current Red Rose Helena Rowland. She told me lots of information about the resources and facilities that the red roses have now such as the types of specialist coaches, analysts and team doctors they have available.

Tuesday a fairly early start with an 8am zoom call with Dr Lydia Furse. A Rugby Historian who works at the New Zealand Rugby Museum. She also worked as the Education and Community Outreach Officer. There she co-curated exhibitions, ran educational classes to students of all ages, developed seminars for universities and developed a pop-up version of the Women’s Rugby World Cup exhibition.

Dr Furse answered all my questions and gave me a detailed history on women’s rugby in the UK. Not only did this add to my feature but I also learnt so much.

And finally an unexpected one. A couple of weeks ago I emailed and Instagram messaged Rugby legend Rocky Clark not really expecting anything to come of it. On Monday I got a message back with her number and her saying she was extremely interested in getting involved in my project. By Tuesday morning I had a WhatsApp asking if I was free to talk. Rocky kindly spoke to me in a spare 20 minutes of her busy day. She outlined her 15-year career and what led up to it. She spoke to me in depth about the struggles in her international career with juggling rugby, working and her personal life.

Credit: RFU Collection via Getty Images

One of the main things she said that stuck out to me was that she was more famous now after retiring than she ever was when she was playing for England. I think that says so much about how well-known women rugby is now and how much more of a presence it has online. She also spoke about leaving her mark on women’s rugby and how she tries to raise the profile of the sport now as an ex-player.

My favourite thing Rocky said was this:

“I miss it dearly. It's horrible not being a Red Rose anymore, but I can live on and know that I left a shirt in a better place, but it was certainly the best days of my life.”

With all of my interviews complete I am now in the process of creating first full draft of my feature article.