World in their Hands: The Story of the First Women's Rugby World Cup

Martyn Thomas

ISBN 10: 1913538931 / ISBN 13: 9781913538934

Published by Polaris Publishing Limited, 2022

About this Item

Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Seller Inventory # rev2071147372

Bibliographic Details

• Title: World in their Hands: The Story of the First Women's Rugby World Cup
• Publisher: Polaris Publishing Limited
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1913538931
• ISBN 13: 9781913538934
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Weight: 1050 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Southwest London women reshaped rugby by staging the inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup amid misogyny, recession, and global upheaval.

Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Rugby Book of the Year 2023

World in their Hands recounts the remarkable events that led to a group of friends from south-west London staging the inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1991. The tournament was held just 13 years after teams from University College London and King’s contested a match that catalysed the growth of the women’s game in the UK, and the organisers overcame myriad obstacles before, during and after the World Cup. Those challenges, which included ingrained misogyny, motherhood, a recession, the Gulf War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, provide a fitting framing device for a book that celebrates female achievement in the face of adversity.

Although ostensibly a story about women’s rugby, this is a tale that has rare crossover appeal. It is not only the account of a group of inspirational women who took on the institutional misogyny that existed in rugby clubs across the globe to put on a first ever Women’s Rugby World Cup. It is also the compelling and relatable tale of how those women, their peers and others in the generations before them, reshaped the idea of what it means to be a woman, finding acceptance and friendship on boggy rugby pitches. At the time, with the men’s game tying itself up in knots about professionalism and apartheid, these women were a breath of fresh air. Three decades on, their achievements deserve to be highlighted to a wider audience.

About the Author

Martyn Thomas is a freelance sports journalist who works with World Rugby as an editorial consultant. He has written extensively about the history of the women’s Rugby World Cup for World Rugby and for Rugby World. Having begun his career at The Guardian and worked as rugby editor for ESPN, he has also written for RugbyPass, Mirror Online, Eurosport, Sport360 and the official Rugby World Cup 2019 match programmes.

Sarah Hunter is an English rugby union player. She has represented England since the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup and currently captains the team.