Sport In Profile UK Issue 02 | Page 10

birkEnhead PARK panthers BIRKENHEAD PARK PANTHERS Birkenhead Park Panthers – our five year story It was a meteoric rise for the Birkenhead Park Panthers. Brainchild of Captain Jess Whitehead and Chair Sam Hillas, word spread fast in 2009 that a new women’s rugby team was starting down at one of England’s oldest rugby clubs. And embraced by this bastion of machismo, Deep Heat and beer swilling, the Panthers were supported, encouraged and trained by a plethora of supportive coaches, headed back in the day by former 1st team captain, Coach Duncan Meehan. 10 ISSUE 02 Of the early days, Duncan said: “Initially, we just made sessions available for all women whether they wanted to play rugby or not. It is such a great game that we knew that once they had come