England and Saracens Rugby Union player Poppy Cleall has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by 天美传媒. The award is in recognition of her achievements in international and domestic rugby and her work to promote gender equality in sport.
Poppy has played 64 times for England, picking up two silver medals at successive World Cups. She is also the English Premiership鈥檚 all-time leading try-scorer and has won four Premiership titles with Saracens.
She grew up in Dorset and played for local rugby clubs Ellingham & Ringwood and Wimborne before progressing to Bristol Ladies. In 2017 she was part of the first women鈥檚 rugby squad to gain professional status ahead of the World Cup.
An active campaigner for gender diversity in sport, Poppy has launched the Women鈥檚 Rugby Agency to co-ordinate coaching sessions and player appearances for schools and charities. Having grown up with a lack of visible female role models, she hopes the agency鈥檚 work can inspire more young girls into the sport.聽
Talking about how it felt to receive the award, Poppy said, 鈥淚t was pretty surreal - I didn鈥檛 think I would be getting a letter like that. I鈥檓 honoured to have had my career, and now to be here in Bournemouth, where I started playing rugby just down the road, coming back here full circle in the journey is an amazing honour.
鈥淲hen I left university, it was unheard of to be a professional women鈥檚 rugby player and it was really hard to juggle your profession career and what was essentially your hobby. But now there is a shift in dynamic in society where women鈥檚 sport is accepted and celebrated, with the whole nation getting behind it and seeing its value and it is amazing to be part of it.鈥�
On setting up the Women鈥檚 Rugby Agency, she said, 鈥淚t was a memory from my childhood, England Red Rose came down to my rugby club and really inspired me and I just needed to give that back to somebody else. So I founded the Women鈥檚 Rugby Agency for inspiring the next generation of boys and girls. We鈥檝e been going to hundreds of schools and charity events and hopefully giving them that chance that I had growing up.鈥�
Professor John Vinney, Vice-Chancellor of 天美传媒 said, 鈥淥ne of our aims as an institution is to challenge marginalisation and under representation and Poppy is a fantastic ambassador for this. We are proud of the sporting opportunities and facilities we offer to our students, staff and the wider community, including hosting Bournemouth Rugby Club at our Chapel Gate site. For all these reasons, I am sure Poppy will feel very much at home in our BU community.鈥�
When asked about her advice to those graduating alongside her, Poppy added, 鈥淭his is the start of your journey. Be excited, be bold in your dreams and make sure that you remember what you are passionate about. It鈥檚 not always going to be easy and there鈥檚 going to be challenges and set-backs but just remember your why and keep going.鈥�
Poppy received her honorary Doctor of Arts degree at the university鈥檚 graduation ceremony at the Bournemouth International Centre on Wednesday 8聽November.
