With less than a year to go for the 2021 edition of Women’s Rugby League World Cup, the biggest extravaganza of the sport that happens once every four years, here’s a sweet story of a talented woman who saw luck come her way in just the right time. This is the story of Francesca Bunting, born to a Brazilian heritage and now preparing for the world cup as a part of the official Brazil team. She will most likely make the team as she is being trained by the team’s head coach.
According to Bunting, she had a chance meeting with Matt Gardner in Sydney in 2019. Gardner, an English former rugby league professional and the current head coach of the Brazil women’s rugby league team, met her in the summer of 2019 in a gymnasium where she introduced herself as a rugby player. Soon Gardner found out about Bunting’s Brazilian heritage, and after a short assessment, she was on her way to join the national team.
While Bunting trains for the 2021 world cup, it is important to know that Brazil is the first South American nation to be qualified for the World Cup in the 13-member rugby league match. The men’s team is not a part of the tournament next year. Scheduled to start in November 2021, Brazil will pit against England in its maiden tournament match, followed by a match against Papua New Guinea and Canada each. The four teams make up Group A, as outlined on Wikipedia.
“I was born and raised in St Albans but, through sheer coincidence, I could now be playing for Brazil at next year’s World Cup,” i News quoted her as saying earlier in November. “When I moved out to Australia, I started playing rugby union on the sevens circuit for Manly Mermaids in Sydney. Then one day I was in the gym when Matt Gardner trained my friend and me to the point of total exhaustion. It turned out he had played rugby league professionally – his brother is the former St Helens winger Ade Gardner – and was now the Brazil women’s national coach. I was like ‘no way, I’m part Brazilian sports bettingtoo’. When I mentioned I played rugby union too, Matt was interested. So, I sent my footage to him and here we are. I’m proud of my Brazilian heritage and my grandma is ecstatic at the prospect of me making Brazil’s Rugby League World Cup. If I make the team, she will be there draped in a Brazil flag. It’s such an unbelievable opportunity and I’m aiming to get picked at full-back or wing,” she says.
According to iNews, Bunting graduated from Sheffield University where she majored in Business Management. She moved to Australia briefly after her graduation, and then moved back home to work as a Marketing Manager at a media agency. Identifying as a professional athlete, Bunting says that she has always been fascinated by sports such as netball and rugby union, which she partakes in frequently. So, this chance meeting with Gardner and a possible chance to play for the Brazil national team comes as a massive surprise and stroke of luck for her. She is also confident about her joining the team as well as the growth of women’s sports around the world. “Being at Headingley on Wednesday gave me goosebumps. Can you imagine what it would be like with the stands being full and the carnival atmosphere?” she quips about playing for a national team and to see an entire stadium roar for their players and their teams. While she wishes that the UK team make it to the world cup soon, she will now focus on her Brazilian roots and make her forbearers happy.
According to Gardner, two rounds of trials will be played by his girls before he finalizes the team that would go to England to play for the world cup. Similar to Bunting, the majority of the players are of Brazilian origin.
It is rather surprising that such a chance meeting could have an immense impact on a sportsperson’s life. And Bunting’s experience is one to be lauded and spread out around the world to show aspiring sportspersons that nothing is impossible. Here’s looking at the next eleven months as Bunting and her future teammates make Brazil and the women’s sports at large proud.
