Girl Power Prevails!

If your daughter is keen to play “proper” contact rugby in Singapore, she can – thanks to JIM KELLETT and CLARE KIERSEY, co-founders of the Singapore Valkyries Girls Rugby programme.

Tell us about your own rugby backgrounds.

Jim: I started playing in high school in Canada, then continued at university. After a “lost decade”, I joined the Montreal Irish for about 10 years, until I moved here. I was also actively involved in the club executive, helping to raise money and organise events. Beyond my association with the Valkyries, here in Singapore I play vets rugby with the XV Gaulois and touch rugby with the TRC coaches’ team, the Coffin Dodgers.

Clare: I went to a prep school in Cornwall, a part of the UK that is passionate about rugby. When I was 12 or so, there weren’t enough boys for the team, so the girls were asked to make up numbers – that’s how I played my first game. A few years later, my local town set up a ladies’ team, and my sister and I played. We were about half the size of some of the solid Cornish lasses there but had a slight advantage in speed! It was playing for Cardiff University where I really learnt the camaraderie of rugby – our team got to the University finals and even played at Twickenham, my rugby highlight.

What gave you the idea to start girls’ contact rugby in Singapore, and how has it grown?

Jim: My daughter was playing touch at TRC but wanted to play contact with the boys and didn’t want to do it alone. I found Clare who agreed to help me, and together we started the programme. Through word of mouth, we found two other girls to join us, and we started preparing the girls to join the boys’ under- 10s contact team.

Word continued to spread, and our numbers started to grow. After six weeks, we had enough girls ranging in age from 10 to 16 to start our programme. Within six months, we had four teams at the Hong Kong All Girls Tournament, where we won three Shields, a Bowl and two age-group MVPs.