The heavens opened and the rain poured but it could not dampen the spirits of the thousands that gathered at Battersea Power Station to celebrate England’s Women’s Rugby World Cup triumph. The Red Roses had bloomed in their own backyard in front of a capacity crowd on an emotional day at a sold-out Allianz Stadium in Twickenham and, having relocated to central London, captain Zoe Aldcroft and her side soaked it all in with the decommissioned towers rising high beyond them.
With the teeming rain heralding autumn’s arrival, this marked a fitting finish to a glorious summer of English women’s sport. Who better, then, to get the party started than Lioness Lucy Bronze. “It feels like deja vu,” the double European Championship-winning footballer remarked only a couple of months since she and her teammates had paraded down The Mall to Buckingham Palace.
The logistics of the event had been tricky for England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) to sort, with a number of key challenges. A 10k running race had wiped out many of the central London streets one might usually look to for events of these type, while a desire to have children and families in attendance meant a weekend date was desired. With the world champions out and about around the country at community rugby clubs for RugbyFest as they continue to inspire the next generation, it meant a celebration organised at short notice with little time to publicise or promote the proceedings.
There were plenty, still, who made their way down to the banks of the River Thames to wait for the World Cup winners’ arrivals. Alongside Bronze, double Olympic gold medal winner Kelly Holmes paid tribute to the current crop of champions and all those who came before. “England’s women hold down the fort,” she said, looking at Bronze beside her. “It started with the legends you didn’t see on television, and we have to keep this rolling. It is about women’s sports and about women supporting women.”
Among the audience were the great and the good of rugby, top executives from the RFU and World Rugby mingling with the families and friends of some of the players, along with plenty of past greats. Gill Burns and Rachael Burford, World Cup winners in 1994 and 2014 respectively, had the honour of carrying the new trophy up on to the Battersea balcony as the England players arrived.
Conducting proceedings were former England international Topsy Ojo and, fittingly, Katy Daley-Mclean – captain for the last tournament success 11 years ago. Given the scale of the celebrations the night before, the pair did well to wrangle the Red Roses and capture some quotes, even if some hoarse voices spoke of the tales not to be told from a special night.
Skipper Aldcroft was on form, dancing around and waving the trophy around with reckless abandon. Though remarkably light, this was no trinket; apparently, it cost £100,000. Luckily, England’s lineout leader’s hands were secure. Enjoying themselves equally were Meg Jones, Natasha Hunt and Hannah Botterman, who had led the party on Saturday night and throughout the tournament – though a bashful Sadia Kabeya did not seem to particularly enjoy Botterman’s leading of the crowd in a chant of her name. The BBC might have panicked, too, when an expletive threatened to escape the loosehead prop’s mouth, although she seemed to just about save it.
For years, England teammates have wondered if there is anything that centre Emily Scarratt isn’t good at; her Neil Diamond karaoke, it would seem, still requires some work. Familiar favourites pumped out by the DJ were nonetheless popular with the crowd and, indeed, the squad.
Out into the masses they ventured soon enough, signing autographs, snapping selfies, pressing flesh. Beneath ponchos, pac-a-macs and umbrellas, the well-prepared fans smiled with wide-eyed wonders, while others braved the conditions to wait their turn to celebrate.
“Earlier in the summer we saw the Lionesses and that gave us the inspiration to do our part and want to build that momentum,” Aldcroft had said earlier. “We’ve wanted to inspire the next generation and create momentum for young girls by both seeing them on shoulders in the stadium and inspiring them to go to rugby clubs and pick up a ball and be the future Red Roses.
“After we’ve had our celebrations, this chapter will close. And then it’s about bringing in the next generation of Red Roses. We’ll get a fresh group of Red Roses into the squad and that’s what keeps us fresh and keeps us chasing. We’re very competitive people and we want to be at the top of our game always. We’ve won the World Cup but in a few weeks time we’ll be back in the PWR and wanting to fight for our clubs. The drive to keep pushing and get better next stops. We always want to keep pushing limits. We have so many more people to inspire.”
