Raise money for Cumbria Women's Rugby

Kirkby Stephen Youth Centre are working in conjunction with Cumbria RFU, supporting with sponsorship and fundraising for the women's Gill Burns Rugby County Championship.

Cumbria Women have played the past several seasons in the Gill Burns County Championship with tremendous success.

In recent years, funding the team has become increasingly more difficult. Thankfully, both the men and the women were able to enter a team for this season.

After the entries were made, Cumbria Women were placed into a group including Staffordshire, Oxfordshire and Essex.

All teams receive the same amount of RFU funding to run themselves in the competition, but the trip to Essex alone, will cost a considerable amount more than this funding alone would allow. That's before factoring in the other games and extra costs.

Sadly, even after a successful campaign Cumbria Men are no longer in their competition. Again, a huge amount of work went in to be able to help fund their campaign and they are grateful to their sponsors and contributors, to enable them to compete, which they did with great credit.

Following an electrifying victory over Staffordshire, Oxfordshire and Essex, our Cumbria women's team has clinched a spot in the finals at Twickenham for the very first time in our history! This momentous achievement fills us with boundless excitement and gratitude. It's a dream come true and a once in a lifetime experience for so many of our players, which is set to be played on Sunday 16th June 2024 at 11am. However, amidst our celebration, we must acknowledge the significant financial hurdle posed by the journey from Cumbria to Twickenham, especially considering the strain Essex's match already placed on our modest budget. Despite this challenge, we embrace this opportunity wholeheartedly, fuelled by the passion and dedication that have brought us this far.

With this in mind, we are looking for help to sustain rugby in the county, no matter what representative team. This means we are seeking help from the community, not only towards this trip, but for the future of the county programmes. The reality is, community sport costs more than what is received in funding. Without help, this will not be sustainable beyond the near future. Which would be truly disheartening, especially as we're demonstrating the potential opportunities available for the youth and their future in rugby.

Women's rugby is one of sport's great success stories, experiencing unprecedented growth around the world and represents the single greatest opportunity for growth in the next decade. However, if we can't fund this opportunity, there's the possibility that we won't be able to continue in the future. This could prevent young people, aspiring to follow the success of the England Red Roses, and England Men's outfits, the opportunity for their development and the possibility to one day play for their county, or higher.

We would also like to thank the amazing people who have already donated, and the people at Kendal Calling and Halbro Sportswear, who have donated and sponsored new shirts for the women's team. We can not thank them enough for their generosity.

If you are able to support women's rugby, no matter how big or small a contribution, we will be eternally grateful.

*100% of donations will be collected by Kirkby Stephen Youth Centre and transferred to CumbriaRFU (with full transparency and evidence) on behalf of the Women's section.