Redheaded Pamela Gouws, No. 1 in the blue and gold jersey, down low in the front row as she prepares to drive into the opposing team. A member of the Washington, D.C., Furies women’s rugby club, Gouws plays loosehead prop, roughly the equivalent of a center in football.

Pamela Gouws: History Maker

By Pamela Oldham
Special to FYI Online

Since joining UMUC in 1999 as director of special projects with the University’s School of Undergraduate Studies, Pamela Gouws has served as project manager for a number of groundbreaking initiatives, including a program that allows online students access to free tutoring. But that’s not what distinguishes Gouws as a history maker.

Pamela Gouws is a member of the Washington, D.C., Furies, a U.S. women’s rugby club, currently ranked No. 7 nationwide. Gouws plays on the starting team and, at 48, is the oldest woman rugby player at this level of competition in the United States. Rugby is her passion—and her way of life.

Gouws first played rugby as a student at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) in 1976, in the club division. As one of the top teams in the mid-Atlantic, the UMCP rugby club won many tournaments and trophies during Gouws’ tenure. In 1978, she moved to Colorado and played rugby for the University of Colorado until 1982, when she moved to South Africa.

Because rugby is considered the national sport in South Africa, Gouws thought she’d have many opportunities to play. However, she soon realized there were no women’s teams. Not willing to give up her passion, Gouws began training with the local men’s rugby team in 1984, to stay in competitive form and to show others that women could play the sport. That caught the attention of the South African media.

“So many television and newspaper stories were generated about this ‘crazy American woman’ trying to get women’s rugby up and running in South Africa,” Gouws said. “It was wild.”

As a result of the media coverage, many South African women contacted Gouws, expressing strong interest in forming a women’s rugby club in Pretoria. Gouws was excited by the response and scheduled a practice session. Thirty women had signed up for the session.

Only seven of them showed up.

“When I called the others back, they said they were interested, but none of the men in their families would allow them to take part in such a physical sport,” Gouws explained.

There is no difference between men’s and women’s rugby. The sport is full contact.

Gouws was forced to abandon the idea of establishing a South African women’s rugby club, but she didn’t give up on the sport. When her stepson asked her to coach his high school team, she took part in a Level I coach certification course in Pretoria. As the only woman in the course—and the first female ever to seek certification—she was not warmly welcomed. Nevertheless, Gouws earned her Level I certification, becoming the first woman rugby coach in South Africa.

She later earned certification through Level III, the highest coaching level, and coached high school boys’ rugby in South Africa for four years. Ultimately, Gouws earned the respect of the male coaches.

In 1997, Gouws returned to the United States and began coaching the Washington, D.C., Furies. Gouws explains that, at 42, she thought she was too old to play competitive rugby, especially since she hadn’t played in 15 years. After a year of coaching, Gouws was called on to play for an injured Furies player who had broken an ankle.

“I was in excellent physical shape and had strong skills—by then, I’d been coaching for years,” Gouws said. “But the first time I got tackled, I thought I was going to die.”

Even so, Gouws says the competitive bug bit again. After a short stint as a player-coach, she stopped coaching and concentrated on playing competitively for the Furies. Gouws wears the #1 jersey and plays “loosehead prop” in the front row.

Players in three front row positions—loosehead prop, hooker, and tighthead prop—work together in synchronized fashion to drive forward over the ball, similar to the role played by a center in football. Gouws says her position takes upper body strength, physical stamina, mental toughness, and driving ability.

Most of her teammates—and the members of opposing teams—are 20 years younger. But age doesn’t matter to Gouws. She’s got a fierce attitude on the field.

“When I’m eyeball to eyeball with a competitor, I let them know, ‘Don’t mess with me,’” Gouws said.

Although she will continue as “the proud coach of the University of Maryland women’s rugby club,” Gouws plans to retire as a player at the end of 2003, to devote more time to coaching and to raising her two daughters, ages 14 and 15. Her D.C. Furies team practices and games take up much of her weeknight and weekend hours, and they’re held regardless of the weather; the team even practiced after a heavy snowstorm in February.

But before she hangs up her “competitive boots,” Gouws has an important tour coming up. In August, she and her teammates will travel to South Africa, where women’s rugby finally took hold three years ago. The Furies will play four games, in Cape Town, Hoedspruit, and Pretoria. Gouws can hardly wait.

“It will be my pure joy to be a part of the first American women’s rugby club to play in South Africa,” Gouws said. “It’s all come full circle now.”

Check out the Washington, D.C., Furies schedule for a chance to see Pamela Gouws and her teammates in action. The team plays spring and fall seasons nationally and throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. For information about the sport of rugby, go to the USA Rugby site.