The Stadium of Light has been confirmed as the host of the opening 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup match involving England. Local dignitaries and girls from Houghton Rugby Club were in attendance at the launch event. Daniel Wales reports.
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00:00 On a bright and brisk December morning in Sunderland, the Stadium of Light was confirmed
00:06 as the host of the opening Women's Rugby World Cup match in 2025. Both local and national
00:12 digger trees, as well as girls teams from nearby Houghton Rugby Club, were there to
00:17 support the big launch event.
00:24 Sunderland City Council leader Graham Miller and UK Sports Minister Stuart Andrew were
00:28 both in attendance and made clear why Sunderland and the Stadium of Light was the perfect venue
00:34 for an occasion on the global stage.
00:37 "I'm very proud of the team. It's a team effort to get a global event like this here. We've
00:43 worked very well with the football club and partners to get the Women's Rugby World Cup
00:50 here in 2025. So it's excellent news and I am chuffed that we've got that. We're one
00:57 of the eight stadia. We've got the opening game and England will be here playing someone.
01:03 So I've got no doubt this stadium will be rocking."
01:05 "I think there's a host of reasons. The people themselves, just warm, welcoming. The fact
01:11 that there's a good collaboration working between various organisations, whether it
01:15 be the government or the local council or whether it be the sporting bodies. It just
01:19 feels like everybody wants to come together to have a really successful event and that
01:23 is just what makes our reputation so good on the world stage when it comes to these
01:28 tournaments."
01:29 Former England international Sarah Hunter, who hails from nearby North Shields, spoke
01:34 about her pride at the event being hosted in the North East and inspiring the next generation.
01:40 "I'm so incredibly proud to come from the North East and have the sport that I've played
01:46 my entire life come here. It's the pinnacle event. It's the Rugby World Cup. It's Red
01:52 Roses, England women's rugby team coming for the opening game. For me, you couldn't get
01:59 much more than that apart from having a final here. Everything that there is, it's so, so
02:05 special. I get so excited. Since I found out, I haven't stopped grinning. The fact that
02:11 we're bringing a women's World Cup game to the North East. It's the opening game and
02:15 it's England rugby. What better can you get than that? When the announcement happened
02:19 and I was looking at them, when I said it was going to be England that were going to
02:23 come here, you could see their face. It was like a 'wow' moment. Hopefully, all these
02:30 girls will be here for the opening game. Some of these girls could be running out on World
02:36 Cups in two or three cycles' time and that would be incredible. That actually having
02:42 an opening game, a World Cup game with England here in the region, actually can inspire someone
02:48 to be a future Red Rose and that would be an incredible story. The summer of 2025 and
02:53 the Women's Rugby World Cup may be many months away, but the seeds planted in Sunderland
02:58 will inspire the girls in attendance until then and beyond.
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