Oxford University female rugby team strip NAKED for charity calendar (PHOTOS)

The autumn internationals have just finished, but rugby
fans will be eagerly anticipating the first day of 2014
when they can place this calendar on their walls.
Oxford University women’s rugby team are copying their
male counterparts by posing for their own naked
calendar – with only strategically positioned hands to
maintain their modesty.
The female team stripped down to just their rugby boots
and socks for the black and white photographs taken
around the city to raise cash for charity.

Captain Tatiana Cutts, 25, tackling teammate Danielle
Yardy, 23, by the river
The calendar is being sold for £10 to raise money for
Mind Your Head, Oxford’s mental health awareness
campaign.
Tatiana Cutts, 25, who tackles team-mate Danielle
Yardy, 23, by the river in the September photograph,
said it was ‘mostly hilarious, really very cold, and
absolutely worth it for such a good cause’.
The law PhD student at Keble College, who lectures
undergraduates part time and is the club captain, said:
‘It was a bit nerve-racking at first but after a minute it
was good fun and great for team bonding.

Good sports: The girls described the day as ‘mostly
hilarious, really very cold, and absolutely worth it for
such a good cause’
‘We were lucky it was a sunny day, but I was still
absolutely freezing in the picture. We ended up in the
river twice, it was utterly miserable.’
Miss Cutts, who is from Tavistock, Devon, and went to
Devonport High School for Girls, dismissed the idea that
the calendar is distasteful. ‘What we’re doing is
celebrating strong women,’ she said. ‘These girls are
athletics, these are their body shapes, and they should
be celebrated.’
The women’s rugby team, who have the motto ‘Back
Yourself’, decided to pose for their own calendar after
previously helping to sell the men’s calendar.

Club president Elizabeth Dubois, from Dartmouth,
Canada, who is studying for a PhD in Information,
Communication and the Social Sciences at Balliol, said:
‘We saw the success of the men’s calendar last year and
while were helping to sell them at matches people said
“if it was your team in the pictures, we would buy one”.
‘Playing rugby is certainly an opportunity to build skill
and physical strength, but it is also a chance to release
stress, form a social support structure, and feel
welcomed.
‘With this calendar the club hopes to highlight the
inclusiveness of women’s rugby.
‘When you play women’s rugby people have a
stereotypical image of you and we wanted to confront
that. We have girls of all shapes and sizes, and studying
all types of academic subject.’
The calendar features current members of Oxford
University Women’s Rugby Football Club on the pitch,
in the gym, in the library, and around Oxford.