Waterloo Ladies Rugby Football Club, known for sponsorship reasons as Firwood Waterloo Ladies Rugby Football Club, is a women's rugby union club based in

Blundellsands Blundellsands is an area of Crosby in the ceremonial county of Merseyside, England and in the historic county of Lancashire. The area was created as a suburb for wealthy businessmen from Liverpool by the Blundell family of Crosby Hall in the m ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

, England. They are the women's team of

Waterloo FC Waterloo Rugby Club (known as Firwood Waterloo for sponsorship reasons) is an English Rugby Union team based at St Anthony's Road, Blundellsands, Merseyside. Once a powerhouse of the English rugby union game, the men's 1st XV now play in Regio ...

. They were established in 1989 by

England national women's rugby union team The England women's national rugby union team, commonly known as the Red Roses, represents England in women's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Women's Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. ...

player

Gill Burns Gillian Ann Burns (born 12 July 1964) is a former rugby union player who represented England between 1988 and 2002, including when they won the 1994 Women's Rugby World Cup. She also captained her country between 1994 and 1999. She was selected ...

. In 2020 they lost their place in the

Premier 15s Premiership Women's Rugby – officially known as Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby or The Allianz PWR – is an annual semi-professional women's rugby union club competition at the highest level of the English rugby union system, and is run ...

after their re-applications were rejected.

History

Waterloo Ladies were founded in 1989 by Gill Burns as a way for local women to be able to play rugby in their hometown. By 2001, Waterloo Ladies were playing in the Women's Premiership. A large number of Waterloo Ladies' players took part in the

2006 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2006 Women's Rugby World Cup (officially IRB Rugby World Cup 2006 Canada) took place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The tournament began on 31 August and ended on 17 September 2006. The 2006 tournament was the third World Cup approved by the ...

, which meant that Waterloo Ladies were unable to put out strong team leading to relegation from the Women's Premiership. Despite this, they became the most successful women's rugby club in Merseyside. In 2012, the club's name was changed to Firwood Waterloo following a sponsorship deal with a

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

based timber merchant, which included all of the club's teams including the Ladies. In 2013, Waterloo Ladies joined the

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

men's team for training. In 2016, Waterloo Ladies were champions of Championship 1 North. In 2017, Waterloo Ladies were selected as one of ten successful bids for a franchise in the new Women's Super Rugby competition, later renamed Premier 15s, designed to replace the Women's Premiership due to a reconstitution of women's rugby in England. The decision was welcomed by

Lichfield Ladies Lichfield Ladies Rugby Union Football Club is a women's rugby union club based in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. They play their home matches at Cooke Fields and play in the league below the Allianz Women’s Premiership, known as Championship ...

who congratulated Waterloo Ladies on their return, despite Lichfield being controversially omitted from the new league.

References

{{Premier 15s Women's rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 1989 1989 establishments in England Sport in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Crosby, Merseyside Rugby union in Merseyside Premiership Women's Rugby teams