The ninth Witham Tens Tournament for women is being held on Sunday, May 9.

Although Witham Rugby Club no longer has a women's team - Witham Amazons disbanded in 1996 after seven years but were the first women's team to form in north and mid-Essex in 1990 - the club will still have a competitor in the matches.

Vice-chairman Heather Turner will be turning out for her new team, Shelford, as well as organising the entire day. Turner, 32, has been playing women's rugby since she was 19.

"It will be nice to play in front of what is, for me, a home crowd," she said.

"I love rugby but I do miss the support that the Amazons used to get on the sideline at Witham."

The tournament, which starts at noon, has become a popular event in the women's rugby calendar.

It was possibly the first ten-a-side rugby tournament in the country - even the men's national tens tournament started the year after Witham's first event in June 1991.

Teams lined up to enter are: Colchester Iceni, Chelmsford, Writtle College, Southend, Saffron Walden, Shelford (near Cambridge), Bancroft and Wasps II. Shelford won last season's tournament and Southend, Sudbury and Eton Manor are also previous winners.

Turner said: "We are delighted that so many teams have entered - word has got around that this a friendly and good-natured event and the weather always seems to be good for us."

The teams will be arranged in two pools of four. Kick-off is at 12.15pm and there will be one game every 30 minutes (seven minutes each way and five minutes between matches) until the final pool matches are completed at 3.30pm (theoretically!)

The top team in each pool will play in the final which is due to start at 4pm.

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