The Dad of a female rugby player who has had to leave Durham to continue playing her beloved sport has come forward with £3,500 in sponsorship for the North East women’s XV team.
The money, from Stephen Portlock’s business Franks Portlock Consulting, has paid for kits and training kit, as the team gears up to take part in a game for Military v Cancer on June 21st at Newcastle Falcons.
This will only be their second game this year and they have also secured a third game against the USA Collegiate team at Newcastle Falcons on August 29. The student arm of the team will face the same team the week before on the August 20 at Cochrane Park in Newcastle.
However, these opportunities for female rugby players in the region are too few and far between, dependent on continuous sponsorship, which is in short supply.
Last month, Francesca Johnson Harding, chair of Rugby NE Women’s Rugby, urged local businesses to sponsor the women’s game and build some momentum around the sport in our region, due to the fact scores of women are leaving and heading south to continue playing their beloved sport.
Stephen Portlock is Dad to one such young lady, which is why his business, Franks Portlock Consulting, has agreed to sponsor the North East Women’s XV team to the tune of £3,500 this year.
Stephen, a former girls rugby coach, from Willington in County Durham, echoed Francesca’s view that the departure of scores of women across the North East, Yorkshire and Scotland is contributing to a “brain drain”, as young women choose university courses close to big name teams in Manchester or the South of England.
“When we had Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, who were in the Premiership, the girls had something to look up to and aspire to,” says Stephen, echoing Francesca’s point that the team’s demise in recent years left a significant “vacuum”.
“They used to meet players and they had a vision that if they wanted to play professionally, they could see it happening in the North East.
“Now that has gone and our talented young women are moving away from their homes to pursue their rugby careers in other parts of the country – even though our Universities here, like Durham and Newcastle, are just as good as their counterparts in the South.”
Stephen recalls a trip to see the England Women’s team play in the World Cup in Belfast in 2017.
Six of the team, who came second in the tournament, were from the Darlington Mowden Park Sharks – and the whole team took the time to meet the young female rugby hopefuls Stephen had travelled with.
Stephen said: “A lot of young girls who aspired to play rugby saw that and it made them want it more.
“But now, there is no pathway anymore is Darlington Mowden Park Sharks have gone.
“My daughter, Geneveive went to York to Bishop Burton to do her A-Levels, as they have a good women’s Rugby side that were playing regularly and she is now five hours away at University in Gloucester doing sports coaching and playing Rugby for Gloucester Hartpury – and there are hundreds more like her all over the country.”
Genevieve or “Gen” is now 19 and has been fortunate enough to play against teams like Exeter Saracens and all their college teams.
Stephen said: “If girls want to progress in rugby – or any sport to be fair – they need to be playing regularly – and up here that’s not possible.
“Gen has been back up here twice to play a mixed college team and there is no Premiership side to aspire to.
“That’s why a lot of young girls like her are moving down South when it comes to University.”
Stephen knows of another girl from Newcastle who is at the same University as his daughter along with a girl from Scotland – which also has similar problems in women’s rugby.
Many girls also choose to study at Loughborough or Exeter.
“For these girls who want to progress, there is no pathway for them in our region and even in Scotland,” said Stephen.
“There is not really anywhere North of Manchester, which is another region our girls are leaving for.”
Stephen says you “don’t actually notice these things until you’re a father to a daughter” but as a businessman, it makes good sense for our local economy to rebuild women’s rugby in the North East region.
“We need some investment in the women’s sport in the region, which nobody seems to be prepared to put in,” Stephen says.
“Our sponsorship amount helps in the short term but it is not going to dramatically change things going forward, if we are going to prevent them from taking their skills elsewhere and contributing to a brain drain here in the North East.
“That is unless we can get consistent and get a movement going, we might attract sponsorship from bigger names and build it from just being a handful of people like me who are involved and who genuinely want to push it forward.”
Stephen adds: “My daughter has been playing rugby since she was under 10 and that’s all she wants to do, so she is happy where she is.
“But the fact is if women are having to move South to continue playing, we are going to lose out on their talents in whatever they are studying for at University too – and of course, we miss them.”
Franks Portlock, established in 2006, is a leading specialist in asbestos, water hygiene, and environmental testing. With nationwide coverage, UKAS-accredited labs, and over 100 employees, it serves public and private sectors across a range of industries, ensuring compliance through risk assessments, surveys, air monitoring, and training. Trusted for accuracy, reliability, and customer focus.