Amelie Anstead, a 21 year old from Hertfordshire, has recently started playing for Loughborough Lightnings (the women’s division of the Northampton Saints) a club steeped in success over it's 140 year history.
This triumph marks a significant achievement in her professional rugby career over the last 4 years.
Amelie, who was a pioneer in creating a girl’s rugby team in her local club and school, became interested in rugby during lockdown in 2020.
Through participation in the 75 Hard Challenge, Amelie’s interest in rugby piqued due to her close proximity to Hertford Rugby Club.
Amelie began playing through short sessions at the club and gradually became introduced to their coaching team and players.
Through Hertford Rugby Club, Anstead became involved in setting up a girl’s team to allow girls in her area to take part in the sport.
When starting sixth form soon after, Amelie felt restricted due to the lack of sports available because of the Covid restrictions.
With the only sports available being Yoga and Badminton, Amelie became motivated to create a girl’s rugby team and initially began playing with the boys in their Touch Rugby squad.
Once restrictions were lifted, Amelie, who was motivated based on her success with the boys, decided to create a team with girls from all backgrounds (including her best friend Millie).
The team, which was dismissed by the teachers, trained in all weather conditions and provided opportunities for younger girls (particularly girls under 13) to get involved in the sport.
A major achievement for the newly formed team was participating in the Rosslyn Park 7’s.
During this time, Amelie went on to join Tabard RFC, playing Fullback and Wing positions.
Based on her success with Tabard, Amelie was invited to take part in a trial for Saracens Centre of Excellence to further develop her skills and gain experience.
Anstead, who then started University in Loughborough in 2022, was invited for one day of pre-season training with the Lightnings.
Massively impressing the coaches, Amelie then went on to become a full-time Lightning’s player.
When asked, Amelie stated that her biggest motivation was “her stepdad James Storey who I call before every game to ask silly things like which colour bow should I wear in my hair?”
Anstead hopes to show the message that girls can still be girly whilst doing “manly things” such as playing rugby, a traditionally male-dominated sport.
Amelie stated that the thing she is most proud of is that she has been able to play against the Leicester Tigers women’s team.
Anstead also said that she has enjoyed being able to travel around the globe to places like Gibraltar, Hong Kong and Paris to take part in Rugby 7’s tournaments with a tournament in Dubai scheduled for late November.
Amelie expressed that the biggest benefit of playing in a professional team is learning from the best of the best and being able to develop her game and skills and hopefully inspire future generations to take part in the game.
