Premier 15s: DMP Sharks motivated to stay in top flight

A summer of uncertainty and a season of online abuse might have been disheartening for DMP Sharks.

The club crowdfunded this summer to keep them in the top flight after not registering a win in the last campaign.

Now they are having to prove they deserve a place in the league with a tendering process to choose potential new entrants on the horizon.

“Knowing that our performances and scorelines is something that will be judged and can be something that potentially removes us from the league instead of re-tender on the position of the club, actually it is more of a motivating factor,” Cowan, 26, told BBC Sport.

The tendering process sees clubs outside of the league apply for a spot in the top flight with current clubs having to do the same to keep their position as promotion and relegation does not exist in the Premier 15s.

The league runs on a three-season cycle and the tendering process takes place during the final season of the cycle.

The current process is in progress with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) already drawing up a shortlist of clubs. The list has not been made public as each club will now meet with the RFU to present their approach to the league.

The governing body will then decide which of the shortlisted clubs will be entered into the league by the end of December. The news will be made public in the spring.

Cowan, who works as a maths teacher outside of rugby, added: “There is definitely a sense that we want to have the scores to reflect the [work] we are doing.

“There are times when you come off the pitch and you say the score doesn’t reflect the game, we have built on what we have done.

“But I think there is a point this year where we want to target opportunities in the scoreline to show how much we are growing.”

DMP had to fight to keep their position in the league after a lack of funding almost saw the club withdraw from the Premier 15s this summer.

The side needed an estimated £50,000 and launched a crowdfunder in August asking for “the basic running costs” and to “keep women’s elite rugby alive in the North East”.

They secured the money through “crowdfunding, sponsorship and public support”.

The players were told they were going to remain in the league a day before it was announced publicly and before finding out they had conversations about what would happen if the funding was not raised.

Cowan said: “Up until the day before it was announced to us that we were going to be in, we thought that was the end.

“As players we had to talk to each other about what we were going to do. If we were going to look for other clubs in the league, if we were going to try and join local championship sides and then look at the re-bid.”

In the end those calls did not have to be made with the team remaining in the top flight.

“It’s not an exaggeration or an embellishment to say we wouldn’t be here without the players,” Cowan said.

“The players are responsible for us being in the league this season, literally, with the crowdfunding efforts that came from the players.”

This came after the 2021-22 season where players suffered online abuse.

DMP had to release a statement asking for fans to be kind to players after abuse was thrown following a run of poor results.

“It is brilliant for the game there is so much more interest, but with interest also comes that ignorance before people are in the know,” added Cowan.

“They will see us as our scores which have been awful, there is no way of sugar coating we have had some really rough seasons.

“But if you are just looking at those and you don’t have the knowledge of England players being offered contracts to move from our club to clubs down in London, you don’t have the knowledge of change over and coaches and how that impacted the club.

“It is really easy to just look at those scores and say we’re rubbish, but we have been in a position where, as players, you want to play as good as you can for as long as you can. Be the best player you can be.

“It has gone from working hard to working as amateurs in what is becoming a professional league and that is where people [abusive fans] are actively working against you, is what it felt like.”

DMP have had some positive news this season as Vodafone have become their shirt sponsors. The news broke in the early stages of the current season, which has seen the club lose their two opening matches, 31-12 to Sale Sharks and 95-0 to Exeter Chiefs.

The team may not have won a league match so far this campaign, but Cowan is just “grateful” to be on the pitch.

“We wanted to prove we can compete on this level,” she said. “Which is why the first league game has just been the best feeling in the squad.

“We didn’t come away with the win that we wanted, but to actually show what we have built on last year.

“We aren’t a team in decline, we are a team that is here to build and here to stay.”