For the next three weeks the finest women's rugby players in
the world will be contesting their own Rugby World Cup in Surrey,
England, 11 teams battling for the title held by the Blacks Ferns
of New Zealand now for 12 years.
The semi finals, bronze play-off and final will all be played
at the Twickenham Stoop, home to English Premiership club
Harlequins, but the other 26 matches will be played at the
state-of-the-art Surrey Sports Park in Guildford - and what a
facility it is.
"If you imagine your average sports centre in your
average town and times that by about eight, that's what you get
at the Surrey Sports Park," the facility's Chief Executive
Jason Harborow told Total Rugby Radio.
"It's fantastic to be part of the Women's World
Cup and this started like an acorn in many ways because I contacted
Rosie Williams (Managing Director of the Rugby Football Union for
Women in England) to ask where England were going to do their
pre-tournament training, and proposed hosting England here.
"Rosie came, she loved it, brought the England team and
management down and they changed the venue for the tournament. I
don't know where they were going to go before, but they came
here and it was a tipping point for us because we were awarded it
before we opened."
Unrivalled facilities
The Surrey Sports Park's indoor facilities alone were a
£36 million pound investment and include the county's only
50-metre swimming pool, an indoor arena with 1,200 seats, six
squash courts (one more than the national squash centre), a 700
square metre health and fitness suite and some of the finest and
most challenging indoor climbing facilities in the UK.
Outside, though, is where the Women's Rugby World Cup
will be held and the quality of the facilities matches the indoor
investment: 10 outdoor grass pitches, three all-weather pitches,
eight tennis courts, much of it flood-lit, as well as on-site
accommodation to cater for all of the athletes.
"During the World Cup not only will the players and
coaches be playing and training here, they will also be living at
Surrey Sports Park as well, there's a real World Cup feel to
it," added Harborow, whose staff are already well versed in
the full-time demands of hosting rugby players and top elite
althletes.
"We're committed to elite sport and world class
athletes and we're lucky here to be the host venue of the
Harlequins Rugby team. And they don't just come here and train
two days a week, they are based here.
"We've also got a netball team, we have a
professional squash team, a professional basketball team, the Great
Britain synchronised swimming team does a lot of its training here,
there are probably about 10 international teams based here.
Olympic relationship
"Yesterday alone we had the Great Britain women's
basketball team, the USA Rugby, England rugby, some of the Quins
and the synchro swimmers in the venue at the same time as the
general public and the students, so it is a big facility."
And to underline its credentials as one of the finest of it
kind in the country, Surrey Sports Park also has an official
relationship with the London 2012 Olympics.
"We have a great relationship with London 2012, we work
very closely with them and we are one of the venues that a lot of
the major teams want to use for a lot of their pre-training,"
explained Harborow.
"We've had a lot of visits. China have come,
we've had South Africa here, a number of the Caribbean nations
as well, so we are becoming a venue that athletes want to use.
"For now, though, we just want to ensure that it's a
great success for all the girls playing at the Women's Rugby
World Cup and that they go home, wherever that is in the world,
with great memories having had a great time here."
