Women’s Game in Focus: Wasps fly-half Florence Williams
EXETER, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 28: Ellie Kildunne of Wasps breaks clear to score a try during the Allianz Premier 15s match between Exeter Chiefs Women and Wasps Ladies at Sandy Park on November 28, 2020 in Exeter, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Florence Williams is chipping away at the ignorance about women's rugby one try and one marketing campaign at a time.
The fly-half, who started her rugby life at Aylesford Bulls aged eight before playing for clubs Lichfield, Loughborough Lightning and now Wasps, made headlines last year after she shone a light on Ireland Rugby and brand Canterbury for missing a ‘golden opportunity' to promote female players during their kit launch.
Instead of using athletes they used models and so the 26-year-old took to social media to take action.
The buzz from her tweet made Canterbury change their policy to include female athletes in campaigns forevermore.
But she is craving more change, saying it's a ‘movement not a moment', and is aspiring to break down more barriers with her marketing company Perception Agency.
“That is my end goal always,” she said. “It's not about if it was a huge campaign and if it was big in August, September. This is something that has changed forever now so this will impact and effect every other team jersey launch they do.
“A policy change like that is always going to be something I want to target because I don't want it to be a ‘yeah it's really interesting and now we've forgotten about it'. I am here for active change. I'm here to create that change for future so we don't have to face these same battles year on year on year.
“I don't want it to be a hype for now and a memory for tomorrow. It's a movement not just a moment.”
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE 🇮🇪
2 Jersey Launches
3 Models
3 International Players
3 Profiles lifted
1 HUGE Opportunity Missed
By not using the female players to market THEIR OWN KIT an opportunity to build recognition, fan bases & creating role models for future generations is lost. pic.twitter.com/TM75AH5rKr— Florence Williams (@FlorenceW94) August 22, 2020
Williams, originally from Maidstone in Kent, is currently playing in the Premier 15s where Wasps are sat in third. While the London club are always around the top four spots, they have never made the final.
This season feels like something has changed though and Williams credits the signings the club brought in last summer as the main reason.
She added: “We've always had that potential to perform really, really well. There's something about our belief this year that it does feel slightly different and a lot of our attitudes off the field have changed.
“When you come up against some of the big teams we say ‘we can do this' but maybe the belief isn't quite there. But this season we've gone into every single game, whether it's tenth place or first place, with the same belief of we are in this to win.
“New personnel and new personalities coming into the team definitely helps with that but it's the combination of our culture and new talent that has propelled that even further.”
SARAH RENDELL
