Remembering WRWC ’91: The Soviet Union

Although rugby had a long history in the Soviet Union ?? and even before the Revolution in 1917 ?? women??s rugby (and women??s team sports generally) did not make much headway until the political changes associated with Perestroika in the 1980s. Co-incidentally, therefore, the game began to grow in the USSR at the same time it was growing elsewhere.

As a result ?? and despite funding limitations - the Soviet Union national team was among the first to take the field, making its debut in August 1990 at RugbyFest in Christchurch, New Zealand.

It was a pretty daunting start as their first ever test match was also against New Zealand ?? or the Gal Blacks, as they were then known. And they made an impressive start, only going down 8-0. Two days later they played and lost to the Netherlands 12-4, before ending their first experience of international rugby with a 32-0 loss to the United States. Nonetheless it was an encouraging start and so they would have approached the World Cup with some confidence that they could make an impact.

However, the team that travelled to Wales was largely not the same one that had gone to Christchurch. As Larisa Masalova recalled in an interview in 2009,?? Our team was mainly based on one club - "Victoria", from Moscow. For most of us it was the first time we travelled abroad or even first time ever got travel passports. There was no target: just to get some experience vs great international teams.??

The certainly made an impact on the tournament, and before they had even arrived in Cardiff. As Times reported:

??The women's rugby World Cup starts in Wales, but the competition has not advanced this far without a slight problem or two. For example, they lost the entire Soviet squad. The players, who had already regretfully informed the organisers that they would be unable to pay for their own food and accommodation, failed to turn up on the expected aeroplane.

??Their greeters were later told that they would be on a following flight. This was cancelled. For a while no one knew if they had arrived or not, or where they were. They finally showed up yesterday morning [two days before the tournament was due to begin].

??A 15-seat mini-bus was there to take them away but unfortunately, only six of the squad were able to get into it. They are very big ladies indeed. One of them is 6ft 4in. Finally they were all squeezed into two mini-buses. At least we can now understand their problems with paying for their own food.??

Larisa remembers: ??We arrived with a couple of boxes of canned goods, and flew to London.

??When the team arrived to the hotel, we, Soviet girls, were so surprised: we never had twin rooms! That was amazing! There were coloured booklets with photos. People asked us to sign it! Also media was interested.??

The media was not the only people interested in the Russian team. Shortly before their first game against the Netherlands there was a knock on their hotel door in Cardiff. The Guardian takes up the story:

??CUSTOMS officers called on the headquarters of the Soviet women's rugby team in Cardiff yesterday after reports that the tourists were penniless and had been selling cut-price vodka and caviar in an attempt to pay their expenses during the inaugural women's World Cup.

??The women were said to have travelled through Heathrow airport's green channel with five 5ft cases of liquor, but at South Glamorgan Institute yesterday customs investigators found it almost impossible to break the language barrier and eventually left.

??It is understood that no charges will be brought against the team, who had only enough money for their air fares and hoped to barter their goods for food during the week-long tournament in South Wales. But half of their goods went missing at Moscow airport and since arriving they had resorted to rationing their breakfast meal and sold some jerseys and sportswear to raise cash.

??Yet even while Customs was questioning them, offers of help were coming in. Companies and individuals contacted the party with offers of cash, meals and transport. A pie manufacturer and a restaurant owner came forward to give the girls a square meal, an anonymous donor offered ??1,200 towards their expenses and the mother of Bess Evans, the Welsh women's hooker, donated ??100.

??Such acts of kindness came too late to build up the Soviet women's stamina for yesterday's match: they lost 28-0 to the Netherlands - but showed a profit on touchline sales of souvenirs.??

It was all a massive learning experience, both culturally and on the field, but one that Larisa looks back on with fondness

??We loved that trip,?? she says. ??Those times women played totally different rugby! We had no injuries: a few bruises only, and we played without scrumhats or mouthguards."

It was also the last time the Soviet Union took the field. More political upheavals meant that by the time the next World Cup came around in 1994 the USSR??s place was taken by two teams ?? Kazakhstan and Russia ?? who even came up against each other in that tournament??s Plate competition. But that is another story.?˜

Overall the USSR's women played just six matches in their short sporting history. Today these tend to be included in with Russia's results for rankings purposes etc., but for the sake of a unique period in women's rugby history here?˜is the Soviet Union's complete results list:

New Zealand 8-0 USSR Netherlands 12-4 USSRUnited States 32-0 USSR

Netherlands 28-0 USSR ()United States 46-0 USSR ()Canada 38-0 USSR )