Parents outraged after girls 'massively excluded' from sports in Cumnock blasting shocking 'sexist divide'

They hit out after insisting there is a huge sexist divide, especially in rugby and football teams.

It comes after East Ayrshire Council recently secured more than £1.5 million funding for active classes and celebrated getting more girls involved in sport.

But the outraged mums believe there is not enough opportunities from third party organisations to let girls play sports.

The Cumnock School of Rugby has been accused of having ‘zero interest’ in supporting a girls’ rugby team while the boys team jets off abroad for training trips.

One angry mum said one time the coach just gave all the girls a lift home instead of training with them.

Another parent claimed her daughter showed up for training after school only for no coach to show up leaving her stranded as she missed the bus home.

But the claims have been disputed with coaches and East Ayrshire council saying it isn’t an ‘anti-girl thing’ they just simply don’t have anyone to train the team.

As it stands the girls do not have a team outside of school, but the boys do.

Parents were annoyed when the girls were used at the front of pictures to celebrate the opening of brand new r ugby pitches in Cumnock saying the reality is they are often ‘chucked aside’.

Right now to play rugby outside of school the girls need to travel to Ayr, which isn’t possible for a lot of them.

And the ones who can make the journey are forced do the long commute home in a wet dirty kit as there aren’t changing room facilities for them.

But the Cumnock Rugby School insist they want to encourage more females into the sport and would welcome a coach ‘with open arms’, despite not actively advertising for the volunteer position.

They said most of the boys coaches are parents and that any of the girls’ mums are welcome to become the new coach.

The parents, who want to stay anonymous, told the Chronicle their kids are desperate to play but lack opportunities in the area.

The girls currently have more trophies than the boys team at school despite the claims and parents believe with an extra push and encouragement they could even become the best in the West of Scotland.

One mum revealed: “Auchinleck and Cumnock Academies merged their under 15 girls rugby due to numbers but as there isn’t another game planned until September they aren’t going to bother training them.

“Cumnock Rugby Club makes vague noises about wanting a girls’ rugby team but then can’t find a coach, although they don’t seem to struggle to find coaches for boys.

“It appears that women are there to fundraise and cook lunches.

“The coach actually turned up to girls’ rugby training once and literally just given the girls a lift home rather than bother training them.

“The boys from Auchinleck who played in Barcelona last year played against a mixed team and were really impressed by our girls. They have one of the most successful boys teams in the country but after the age of 11 when girls and boys are separated, the girls stop training.

“My daughter tells me ‘boys say that girls are rubbish at rugby, but if we never get to play we will be.’ She is only 12.”

Another parent added: “My daughter really wants to play but I can’t go down to Ayr for her to play rugby but if it was done through the school she might have the wish she had more opportunities near us.

“I’m sure they put more in to the boys than the girls as girls didn’t used to do any sports I’m going back years when I was at school the girls never wanted to do sports/ P.E but they aren’t moving with the times as girls are keen to get involved.

“You can’t even play football if you are over 13 in Cumnock and a girl, this is a bigger issue of excluding girls from sport in the area.

“We need to look at the wider issue.”

Another parent said:“I think it’s shocking.

“There is just zero interest in a girls team.

“See if they pushed them more they could maybe be the best out the Ayrshire and go into the West of Scotland sounds a bit pie in the sky and but why not?

“The sky should be the limit not their gender.”

Since 2015 to 2016, the number of girls turning up for the fitness classes has soared by 33 percent.

Women’s and Girls Development Officer said: “Right now it’s definitely seen as football and rugby are for boys and gymnastics and badminton are for girls, but that is not the case. We are starting and the very bottom and building up to break these gender divides to get more girls into rugby.

No one should be put off sport because of their gender, its for everyone.”

Lee Steward who coaches the Ayr girls team says they started off with limited players but through persistence the team has grew.

She said:“At the moment our stuff is going very strong and we have girls from Cumnock training with us.

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“In rugby there’s a lot of team spirit from our point of view we are very much a family not just in the games but also outside of the sport we have strong links with each other.

“It’s a great ways to bring different backgrounds together and they can take a lot of support emotionally from each other. Girls shouldn’t be excluded from that.”

Cumnock Rugby Development officer, Harry C. Reilly said: “I would dispute these claims. We haven’t been able through the club to find any coaches that’s the main problem.

“We can’t find anyone to coach the team it’s hard to get anything off the ground. We are a volunteer group and are trying our best.

“Club addressed the issue of a lack of girls so both schools, Cumnock and Auchinleck, worked together and we have a girls team which certainly from the turn of the year has been really active and played a lot of games.

“Okay the team hasn’t progressed or is as big as we want it to be but we are working on it.

“It doesn’t need to be a woman coach it could be any coach that has the time to contribute towards the team.

“Girls can play through the school they train on a Thursday afternoon for an under 15 girls team we pay for a bus to take girls after school on a Thursday afternoon.

“Boys do their own fundraising for trips abroad that’s always been the case we didn’t fund them.

“Coaches are volunteers the opportunities is there for these parents to come forward and coach and help run the girls section “We don’t have an advert out just now for one but we regularly discuss where we are at for the girls team coach but it’s not like we have a salary package that we can offer.

“One time training did get cancelled but instead of just sending them away out of the goodness of my heart I drove them home.”

The Cumnock Rugby school are struggling to find someone to train the girls. Do you think you are up to the task? If so call 01290 420292 and find out more information to help the girls and club.