I first approached Bethan Jones, this season’s Blues women’s rugby captain, for an interview when I realised the women’s squad plays far more games in Michaelmas than the men’s Blues squad. The men play seven games over the eight week term, while the women play 14. This disparity in fixture densities wasn’t something I saw in the other sports I looked at, and in such a busy academic environment, didn’t seem fair. I wanted to speak to her about the tough schedule of Blues athletes, the culture of the women’s squad and issues facing women’s rugby.

Bethan explained to me that the unequal schedule is because the Men’s Blues don’t actually play in the BUCS league (the country-wide university sports league); their level is too high to compete, so the men “can decide when they play”, reducing their fixture overload.

“As is often the case with Cambridge and letting their student’s have any ounce of free time, we are not afforded the same timetabling niceties”

The huge number of fixtures faced by the women’s squad is worsened by the structure of the Cambridge timetable. At most British universities, Wednesday afternoon is scheduled off, this is to facilitate BUCS sport and general extracurriculars. However, as is often the case with Cambridge and letting their student’s have any ounce of free time, we are not afforded the same timetabling niceties.

For Bethan this means she “misses lectures most of the week because of rugby”. As a postgrad student, she’s unlucky that most of her teaching is done on a Wednesday. Another stroke of poor fortune for Bethan is that her lectures are also not recorded. So in order to be rugby captain, Bethan must sacrifice her contact hours and learn through notes taken by others.

Even though she acknowledges that with their fixture density, balancing work and sport is “a struggle”, Bethan notes it’s harder for the undergrads in the team. “The undergrads are often working on the bus to and from games, even when we win,” she thinks these players “don’t get as much enjoyment”. These are also the players who can afford to get away from their studies, many are shackled to unmissable labs and supos, stopping them from playing games completely.

“The fixture density does make it harder for the women,” admits Bethan, but she notes that this is a fault of the fixture system and not down to the men. But she laments that Cambridge could do more to accommodate sport alongside academics.

“Cambridge celebrates their athletes online constantly, but when it comes to actually facilitating athletes there is a lack of care”

Bethan pointed out the irony of the support the University shows towards Blues athletes; Cambridge celebrates their athletes online constantly, but when it comes to actually facilitating athletes there is a lack of care.

The women have three teams, and unlike the men’s, take beginners. This is a testament to the “huge” development squad the women have. Bethan credited the coaching staff who train newcomers. I asked if there had been any success stories of newbies doing exceptionally well and received the story of one student who came to the club having never played rugby before and within the year had been scouted by a top London side.

Bethan spoke about the “supportive culture” of the women’s team: “There’s no pressure to turn up all the time,” she noted, “you get out what you put in”. You can either go to all three training sessions a week or just play casually when you can. The three teams allow people to “determine their commitment to the society”.

This culture goes beyond the women’s team, with the whole of Cambridge rugby having a supportive culture. The men and women’s clubs merged into one in 2013 and Bethan spoke about how the women’s team have benefited from the change. “Respect for the Rugby Club is huge […] now the women’s club get the same respect, the same opportunities”. It’s really clear people at all levels of the club care about the women’s squad’s involvement: Bethan particularly celebrated the assistant director of the club for his attention to the women’s side.

Cambridge rugby has come a long way since the women played their first ever Varsity rugby in 1988. The women weren’t allowed to wear Cambridge Blue, nor play at Grange Road, and until 2022 players weren’t awarded caps for their Varsity appearances. Even then, those awarded caps did not know their cap number as all previous players hadn’t been capped, until previous captain Millie Bushrod started the cap project. Single handedly, Millie recorded all the caps dating back to 1988 and presented them to players and alumni.

Bethan commended the “massive undertaking” of the project, and how “amazing” it is to think about the legacy of the women that played before her. She recited her cap number to me off by heart, “436”, showing the importance of this legacy to her. When I asked why no one had tried to do this before Millie, Bethan suspected it was most likely because of “laziness, complacency and people not having any time.”

From questions of women’s sport in the past, I moved to more modern issues of discussion. On the topic of injuries, I of course had to ask about concussions. Bethan told me “three seasons ago the squad had a lot of concussions” but neck strengthening exercises have been introduced and have reduced the number of concussions: “we only had four or five last year.”

The University recently announced they have partnered with a period product company to provide period products at all University sports grounds. I asked Bethan about how periods and rugby mix, which inevitably led to a mention of the England women's football squad: their popularisation of white shorts. She spoke about how there’s been times when the players have had to ‘check’ one another but despite the inconvenience they wouldn’t change their kit. The team want to honour the women before them who fought to wear the Cambridge Blue kit.