The Bury Foxes will take to TV tomorrow (Wednesday) as they look to further boost their profile in women’s rugby.
The team, player-managed by Sara Clarke, will appear on BT Sport’s “Rugby Tonight” programme, taking part in a number of the show’s segments. The show will be aired on Wednesday at 8pm.
The move came after Foxes’ player Stacy Garner contacted the show’s producers asking whether or not they would be interested in giving the female game some publicity, having initially applied for a ticket to be in the audience.
The team, formed around five years ago, has aspirations to join a league set-up next season and while appearing on TV is not part of the criteria, it won’t do the Foxes’ profile any harm.
“It’s all good publicity for the club and the team,” said player-manager Clarke.
“We are on a recruitment drive at the moment as we want to be in a league next season so we need to build up a few more numbers.
“The team has been together for about five years and started by playing the “Touch and Tag” form of the game.
“Two-and-a-half years ago we started to play a bit of contact rugby and then made the decision to take it more seriously.
“We have to play eight 12-a-side friendlies during this season, although the games are very rarely that, and have to have a squad of 22 fully paid-up members in order to fulfil the league criteria.
“We are on about 18 players at the moment so we could do with a few more.
“Training is on Monday nights at The Haberden and our team has a couple of experienced players and quite a few who have only just started playing the game and they have come on leaps and bounds.”
As for their TV date, Clarke added: “The studios are just round the corner from the Olympic Stadium and we have to be there for 6, so I think they will record the show and then air it a couple of hours later.
“We have been asked to take some memorabilia so we will take a shirt.
“We have also done a charity calendar, one of which is suitable for family viewing and the other one, which won’t be suitable for the TV, just for over-18s!
“Everyone is very excited about being on the show and we would like to thank our sponsors Northgate VW who have funded our transport down to the studios and back.”
The Foxes are in action this Sunday, having lined up a friendly against Haringey (12.30pm).
Training is Monday night 7pm till 8.30pm and a fitness session on a Wednesday 7-8pm.
Anyone interested in joining the Foxes or trying out a training session can contact Sara Clarke on 0780 7803603.
Rugby Tonight is hosted by Matt Dawson, Craig Doyle, Martin Bayfield and Sarra Elgan.
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