Poppy Cleall awarded Honorary Doctorate
Poppy was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of her achievements in international and domestic rugby.
England and Saracens star player Poppy Cleall was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Bournemouth University in recognition of her achievements in international and domestic rugby and her work to promote gender equality in sport.
With 64 England caps and two Rugby World Cup silver medals at successive world tournaments, she is also the Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby all-time leading try-scorer and has won four Premiership titles with Saracens.
Growing up in Dorset, aged six she started playing rugby for local clubs Ellingham & Ringwood and Wimborne before joining Bristol Ladies. In 2017. Poppy earned a professional contract for 2019/20 and scored a hat-trick in England's 66-7 win over Wales in the 2020 Six Nations before featuring in the Rugby World Cup final in New Zealand.
An active campaigner for gender diversity in sport, Poppy has launched the Women’s Rugby Agency to co-ordinate coaching sessions and player appearances for schools and charities. Having grown up with a lack of visible female role models, she hopes the agency’s work can inspire more young girls into the sport.
Started playing just down the road
Poppy said, “Receiving the award was pretty surreal. I’m honoured to have had my career, and now to be here in Bournemouth, where I started playing rugby just down the road, coming back here full circle in the journey is an amazing honour.
“When I left university, it was unheard of to be a professional women’s rugby player and it was really hard to juggle your career and what was essentially your hobby. But now there is a shift in dynamic in society where women’s sport is accepted and celebrated, with the whole nation getting behind it and seeing its value and it is amazing to be part of it.”
On setting up the Women’s Rugby Agency, she said, “It was a memory from my childhood, an England Red Rose came down to my rugby club and really inspired me and I just needed to give that back to somebody else. So, I founded the Women’s Rugby Agency for inspiring the next generation of boys and girls. We’ve been going to hundreds of schools and charity events and hopefully giving them that chance that I had growing up.”
Professor John Vinney, Vice-Chancellor of Bournemouth University said, “One of our aims as an institution is to challenge marginalisation and under representation and Poppy is a fantastic ambassador for this. We are proud of the sporting opportunities and facilities we offer to our students, staff and the wider community, including hosting Bournemouth Rugby Club at our Chapel Gate site. For all these reasons, I am sure Poppy will feel very much at home in our BU community.”
Asked about her advice to those graduating alongside her, Poppy said, “This is the start of your journey. Be excited, be bold in your dreams and make sure that you remember what you are passionate about. It’s not always going to be easy and there’s going to be challenges and setbacks but just remember your why and keep going.”
Poppy received her honorary Doctor of Arts degree at the university’s graduation ceremony at the Bournemouth International Centre on Wednesday 8 November.
