As one of the first 25 women in College back in 1974 (2024 is the 50th anniversary of Jesus being a mixed college), we endeavoured to participate in all sorts of things, including sport.
The Jesus Plan was a five-year experiment to see if mixed colleges were viable, and we were determined to make the experiment work. So there was the rugby match between the Jesus 1st XV and fifteen Jesus women. Back then, women didn’t play, or if they did it was a closely guarded secret. It was fundamentally a men-only sport, so we didn’t necessarily all understand the rules. In our one and only fixture, the women could run, and the men could only walk. It was supposed to be touch rugby, although we did do scrums.
The Head Porter was our referee, and eventually joined in on the side of the women. Our secret weapon was Frances, who showed a stunning turn of speed once she got her hands on the ball. The idea of touch rugby was abandoned pretty early on, with tackles happening in places where there was no ball to be seen. It was fun, it was a one-off, but I don’t think women’s rugby has ever really taken off in college.
Unlike rowing….
Again, in the spirit of joining in, several of us gave it a try in Michaelmas term and enough of us liked it that by our second year we were able to put an eight into Eights Week. I am pretty sure we did that in our first year, but photo records are absent and my memory is hazy! In that first year we were all complete novices, but fast learners. There was no women’s division, so we competed on equal terms with the men and stayed down at or near the bottom of the bottom division for a few years. We also had a four, which rowed against one of the local boy’s schools, and we lost rather obviously. It was definitely about playing the game rather than winning, although at least one of our 1976 crew had trials for the University Women’s boat.
Jesus Women’s Eight on the water, 1976.
As the first Jesus Women’s rowing Captain, I am so pleased to see how far women’s rowing at Jesus has come. I don’t think we ever imagined having not one, but two women’s boats, AND both of them successful, at times more successful than the men.
It’s important to acknowledge the support and encouragement we had from the guys who taught us the basics, and then coached us and coxed us (although we soon had our own woman cox, Deb Lees), and supported us in doing our own teaching, coaching and coxing once we were capable; people like Bill Saunders and Joe Savundra, and many others.
Members of the Jesus Women’s boat, 1976
I doubt rowing for women would have taken off without that. Let’s face it, most of us hadn’t come up to Jesus with any notion of rowing! We were talked into it at first, then embraced it as we realised what fun it could be (if getting up at 6am to go down to the river in the middle of February or March can really be considered fun).
Somehow, at some level, it mattered. It was great to be part of a team, having a go and being willing to compete in our little green cotton tank tops and white shorts. There was also the idea of doing it for the College, and to put the idea of mixed colleges so firmly on the map that no-one ever questioned it again.