Bristol women take sport to the next level

Maybe you were one of the 5,700 people last weekend at Millwall Football Club cheering on Bristol Academy players Siobhan Chamberlain, Angharard James, Natasha Harding, and Loren Dykes as they represented England or Wales in the World Cup 2015 qualifier. But if you couldn’t make it to the stadium, then perhaps you watched the live coverage on BBC Three or tuned into Radio 5 live sports extra. Or it could be you followed the tweets and read about the excitement in the press. Because the match was reported by the national media and it was televised and you could get tickets. And that’s great for women in sport but also great for everyone – men and women – who love sport and want to watch it.

It’s also great for Bristol and we’re proud of our athletes. It’s fantastic to see our favourite players going on to play for their country. And it’s not only football…

Our rugby team just keeps winning – and it’s no wonder some of the top talent has been selected to play for England. Bristol Ladies Rugby players Sasha Acheson, Sophie Hemmings, Amber Reed and Kay Wilson have all been selected to the England Autumn International squad. You can cheer on our Bristol heroes at Twickenham or watch the games live on Sky Sports 2. And, for the coolest of cool, the England v France match on 9 November will also be broadcast in 3D.

We’ve also recently discovered our Ultimate Frisbee team is going places too. Nice Bristols Ultimate Frisbee club aren’t playing for England but they will be representing Bristol on the international stage. They’ve qualified for the World Ultimate Club Championships 2014 being held in Lecco next year. We don’t know if this will be televised but we’d definitely love to #showup in Italy!

We’re sure there are other Bristol athletes who’ve gone on to represent nationally and internationally – and no doubt there’ll be more in the future, too. We just hope that all of our athletes get the coverage they deserve and that we all want to see.

To support some of our Bristol stars on their home turf, you can also show up in Bristol:

• 24 November @ 2pm Bristol Ladies Rugby take on Darlington Ladies at the Portway Development Centre, Bristol BS9 2HS

For all Bristol matches – including football, lacrosse, korfball, volleyball, cycling, and on and on – check out our Fixtures calendar.