Louise leads Newbury into Future
Women’s rugby has grown at a tremendous pace and there’s an increasing number of women taking up leading roles at clubs across the country, with 52 female club chairmen at the last count.
The club’s first female chair, and the only one in Berkshire, businesswoman Louise Goodall has been playing rugby since the age of 11 and, in partnership with her mother Jane Livesey, runs the Shabby Barn furniture retail business from her home at Birch Farm, near Hermitage.
Louise has experience of the game at various levels and is part of a true rugby family; married to Lee, a level 3 Coach, she has a son who plays colts and two daughters who have both enjoyed playing rugby and so has a real understanding of how all the different elements of a successful rugby club work. She also worked for the RFUW when it was based at Newbury before moving to Twickenham.
“I only took up rugby to give some support to a friend,” she says. “Until then, I hadn’t found a sport that suited me, but I truly fell in love with rugby and have made many lifelong friends from it. I love the fact that it is open to anyone and that there is a level at which everyone can play, while boosting both their physical and mental health.
“I have for many years championed rugby as a sport for women and am delighted that it is now getting the attention it deserves in the public spotlight.”
Louise began playing senior and then league rugby for Overton, moving to the Newbury club in 1998 and played in Premiership 2 as a loose-head prop before going on play for Alton and then Henley in the women’s premiership before stepping out of this level to have her third child, moving back to Newbury RFC to help rebuild the team back into league rugby.
With business and family commitments, she retired from league rugby but has set up a women’s social team that includes players who can no longer commit to training twice a week. It is, she says, “much less pressure and more focused on having fun”.
Louise was the Berkshire representative recognised in this year’s Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer Recognition Awards and at Newbury is leading a dedicated rugby committee, working alongside President David Jones. She has been involved in the management of the club for some time and has been Vice Chair for three years.
The club, with around 600 members of whom some 350 are parents of minis and juniors, has financial challenges to address, having to fund and run a superb clubhouse.
Says Louise “We need a clubhouse of this quality for National 2 rugby but it costs us a lot to run. We recognise that we need to take some decisive and dramatic action and to boost our income from things like sponsorship and letting of our facilities. We will also run more fundraising events and aim to engage parents of younger members in particular.”
“The club is very much a community facility and I am hoping we can increasingly engage people who simply want to support us in that role.”
