Weekend Edition: Russian dolls, fax machines & legal threats - the making of the first Women's Rugby World Cup - The Sports Agents
The News Agents
Global
4.2 • 4.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 August 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our guest today, Alice Cooper, fought to set up the first ever Women's Rugby World Cup in 1991, along with three other trailblazing women. It took players selling Russian dolls and vodka to pay their way, organising everything over fax, and Alice losing her job - but they did it. Alice tells Gabby and Mark the story of how they paved the way for this year's World Cup.
Plus, we look back at the best bits from this week's shows: former Nottingham Forest player David Prutton asked, could Mourinho replace Nuno at Forest?! After dream debuts for 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha and 15-year-old Max Dowman, Max's former coach at Arsenal, Temisan Williams, and The Telegraph's Sam Wallace joined us. And comedian and Grimsby fan, Lloyd Griffith, took the mickey out of Mark after their shock Carabao Cup win over Man United.
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Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Has the side hustle gone all laid back? Your plan's gone way off track. Or are the orders |
| 0:07.8 | flowing, but it's hard to keep going? It's time to bring the fire back, instead of getting |
| 0:14.1 | sidetracked. It's time to crack a Costa. Side hustle without the struggle. |
| 0:21.8 | Try a can or bottle of silky smooth Costa coffee latte today. |
| 0:26.5 | Crack a Costa. |
| 0:32.6 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:36.6 | Well, we're into the second round of the women's rugby World Cup, |
| 0:40.3 | but just 35 years ago, the competition didn't exist. |
| 0:43.8 | Then upstepped our guest today, Alice Cooper. |
| 0:47.5 | Alice and three other women fought to set up the first ever women's rugby union |
| 0:51.9 | World Cup in 1991. |
| 0:56.1 | The organisers of the first ever women's rugby union world cup in 1991. The organisers of the first ever women's world cup have persisted in the face of seemingly |
| 1:01.1 | insuperable odds and by the sheer force of their determination and enthusiasm have succeeded |
| 1:06.6 | in getting the event up and running. The opening games were played last weekend |
| 1:11.1 | and matches have been continuing throughout. |
| 1:12.7 | So it took players selling Russian dolls and vodka, |
| 1:15.7 | organising everything over fax, |
| 1:17.6 | and Alice eventually losing her job. |
| 1:19.6 | But they did it and she's here to tell us how. |
| 1:22.1 | Welcome to the sports agents. |
| 1:33.1 | The... The Sports Agents The Sports Agents With Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman |
| 1:35.5 | Hello Mark |
... |
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