{{Short description|England rugby union player and team manager}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Val}} {{Infobox rugby biography | name = Val Moore | fullname = Valerie Janet Moore | birth_date = June 1962 | birth_place = Uxbridge, England | school = John Cleveland College, Hinckley | university = Loughborough University<br>London South Bank University | occupation = Teacher; public health leader; swimming coach | position = Full back | amatteam1 = Loughborough University | amatteam2 = Wasps Ladies | amatteam3 = Ely Ladies | repteam1 = Great Britain | repyears1 = 1986-1988 | repcaps1 = 2 }}
'''Valerie Janet Moore''' (born June 1962), known as '''Val Moore''', is an English former rugby union player and team manager, later working in public health and coaching. A full back in her playing career, she represented Great Britain and was involved with the England women's national team during the 1980s.<ref name="Independent1994" /><ref name="NMJ1989" /> She later became manager of the England women's side, working with the team at the 1991 Women's Rugby World Cup and then managing the squad that won the 1994 Women's Rugby World Cup.<ref name="Mirror1991" /><ref name="Wales1991" /><ref name="Hounslow1995" /><ref name="Independent1994" />
== Early life and education == Moore was born in Uxbridge, England, in June 1962. She grew up in Hinckley, Leicestershire, where she first emerged as a multi-sport athlete. In 1976 she represented Mount Grace School at the Leicestershire and Rutland athletics championships.<ref name="MountGrace1976">{{cite news |title=Success time for Mount Grace |newspaper=Hinckley Times |date=28 May 1976}}</ref> She later attended John Cleveland College, Hinckley, and in 1977 played hockey for the school in the Leicestershire and Rutland under-15 championship.<ref name="Stonehill1977">{{cite news |title=Stonehill lift hockey crown |newspaper=Leicester Daily Mercury |date=24 March 1977}}</ref>
By 1978 she was playing club hockey for Hinckley Ladies’ Hockey Club and had progressed through junior county trials, being named as a reserve when the county teams were selected.<ref name="Hinckley1978">{{cite news |title=Hockey Ladies in Tournament |newspaper=Hinckley Times |date=13 October 1978}}</ref> In 1980 she was still competing in county junior hockey, scoring in representative competition.<ref name="LDM1980">{{cite news |title=County junior hockey report |newspaper=Leicester Daily Mercury |date=13 March 1980}}</ref> Her hockey career continued at university level. While at Loughborough University, she was selected as one of five players for a British women's team at a European Universities hockey tournament, and was later described as a former English Universities hockey player.<ref name="LDM1985Hockey">{{cite news |title=Home squad out in force |newspaper=Leicester Daily Mercury |date=6 April 1985}}</ref><ref name="CDN1987" />
== Rugby career ==
=== Transition from hockey and early club rugby === Moore took up women's rugby while a student at Loughborough University in around 1982, at a time when the women's game in Britain was still in its formative phase.<ref name="PS1986">{{cite news |title=City teacher in historic match |newspaper=Peterborough Standard |date=24 April 1986 |quote=About 800 people turned up to watch and created a really great atmosphere.}}</ref><ref name="CDN1987">{{cite news |title=Busy Val the trail-blazer! |newspaper=Cambridge Daily News |date=2 October 1987}}</ref>
At club level she became a player for Wasps Ladies, then one of the strongest sides in women's rugby. At that time, Moore's regular routine involved travelling to London either to train with the men at Saracens or with the women at Wasps, underlining how the sport still depended on players crossing between club structures and borrowing whatever facilities were available.<ref name="CDN1987" /> In October 1985 she was among the try-scorers in Wasps' 26–4 win over Old Windsorians Ladies.<ref name="Harrow1985">{{cite news |title=Wasps Ladies kicked off their season with a 26–4 victory over Old Winsorians Ladies |newspaper=Harrow Observer |date=24 October 1985}}</ref> She continued to regularly play for Wasps and was in the team that won the Women's RUFC Tournament Trophy in its first year.<ref name="PS1986" /> That match between Wasps and Richmond was the first time women had played at Twickenham. It drew television coverage and symbolised the growing visibility of the women's game.<ref name="CDN1987" />
=== International rugby === In April 1986, Moore, then aged 23 and working as a biology teacher at St John Fisher School in Peterborough, was selected at full back for the first international women's rugby match played in England, in which the British Women's RUFC XV faced France in London.<ref name="PET1986">{{cite news |title=Val makes rugger debut |newspaper=Peterborough Evening Telegraph |date=19 April 1986}}</ref><ref name="PS1986" /> Britain led 8–4 at half-time before losing 14–8, and Moore later recalled the significance of the day, noting that about 800 spectators attended and that the crowd atmosphere reinforced the sense that the match had been a landmark for women's rugby in Britain.<ref name="PS1986" />
By 1987 she had become part of both the England and Great Britain squads. The ''Cambridge Daily News'' described her as a 25-year-old full back whose “main commitment” was still to Wasps, but who had spent the previous season as a member of “the two national squads” and hoped to play for Great Britain against Holland at Richmond later that year.<ref name="CDN1987" /> A 1988 Ely match report referred to her as an “England squad member”, confirming that she remained in contention at the top level while combining club, county and development work.<ref name="CDN1988a">{{cite news |title=Ely women’s rugby report |newspaper=Cambridge Daily News |date=2 February 1988}}</ref>
Moore's final cap for Great Britain came in the European Cup in 1988, when Great Britain were runners-up.<ref name="NMJ1989">{{cite news |title=Finding the gentle touch |newspaper=Newmarket Journal |date=11 May 1989}}</ref> Although a Great Britain player, and England squad member, Moore never represented England, despite having “picked up the odd splinter on the England bench from 1986–88”.<ref name="Independent1994">{{cite news |title=Rugby Union / Women's World Championship: England have to beg to ask the question |newspaper=The Independent |date=12 April 1994 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby-union-women-s-world-championship-england-have-to-beg-to-ask-the-question-few-favours-for-the-favourites-as-sponsors-turn-their-backs-on-one-of-the-fastest-growing-sports-1369583.html}}</ref> Injury curtailed her international playing career. By 1989 she was describing a nagging back injury as the factor that had prevented further international appearances,<ref name="NMJ1989" /> and in 1994 ''The Independent'' reported that she was sidelined with a knee injury while still involved in the sport.<ref name="Independent1994" />
=== Ely, coaching and development work === Moore's significance in early women's rugby lay not only in her own playing career but in her role as a builder of the game. In 1987 she helped launch a women's team at Ely, combining playing, coaching and organisational work while still pursuing selection for Wasps and Great Britain.<ref name="CDN1987" /> The same year she completed the Eastern Counties intermediate coaching course, finishing first in theory and second in practical work against an otherwise all-male group.<ref name="CDN1987" /> In February 1988, Moore scored a hat-trick of tries and added two conversions in a 24–0 win over Cambridge University.<ref name="CDN1988a" /> Later that month she was described as having helped form the club and now coaching it, while still playing most of her rugby for Wasps and remaining “on the fringe of an England place”.<ref name="CDN1988b">{{cite news |title=Women make it a first |newspaper=Cambridge Daily News |date=26 February 1988}}</ref> By April 1988 Ely were being described as winning “even without their coach and mentor Val Moore”.<ref name="CDN1988c">{{cite news |title=Rugby brief |newspaper=Cambridge Daily News |date=2 April 1988}}</ref>
== England team management == Moore later moved from player to administrator and became an important figure in the early management of the England women's national side. Moore was the England team manager in 1990 for their match against Wales.<ref name="EnglandWalesPDF">{{cite web |title=England v Wales women’s rugby programme |url=https://firwoodwaterloorfc.rfu.club/Media/FirwoodWaterlooRFC/Ladies%27%20Rugby/Memories/England%20v%20Wales.pdf |website=Firwood Waterloo RFC |access-date=5 April 2026}}</ref> By March and April 1991 she was firmly established as England women's team manager. A ''Sunday Mirror'' feature ahead of the first Women's Rugby World Cup in 1991 described her as manager of the 30-strong England squad,<ref name="Mirror1991">{{cite news |title=Scrumptious... Glamour score for rugger girls |newspaper=Sunday Mirror |date=31 March 1991}}</ref> while a ''Wales on Sunday'' report during the tournament quoted “England team manager Val Moore” discussing opposition, continuity and selection.<ref name="Wales1991">{{cite news |title=Jeni chases Scots double |newspaper=Wales on Sunday |date=14 April 1991}}</ref> England finished runners-up in that tournament.
She remained in post through the early 1990s<ref name="Wembley1992">{{cite news |title=England get a buzz from Wasps Ladies |newspaper=Wembley Observer |date=26 March 1992}}</ref> and was manager for the 1994 Women's Rugby World Cup. Her role extended far beyond conventional management. She was involved in securing sponsorship, arranging tracksuits and shirts, sourcing transport support, organising accommodation and dealing with the chronic underfunding of the women's game. This was during a time when players had to appeal to their clubs for financial help, that the 36-strong party had to cover tracksuits, T-shirts and sweatshirts costing £85 per person, and that some players who could not afford even discounted hotel bills stayed with friends in Edinburgh.<ref name="Independent1994" /> Moore was also quoted on the difficulty of raising even modest sponsorship sums, noting her delight when a cider company donated £500, £100 of which immediately went on embroidery for the sponsor's name.<ref name="Independent1994" />
Moore managed the England women's side for four years and finished after England won the 1994 World Cup.<ref name="Hounslow1995">{{cite news |title=England may be women's rugby world champs... |newspaper=Hounslow & Chiswick Informer |date=15 September 1995}}</ref><ref name="Independent1994" /><ref name="ToeInSwim">{{cite web |title=About |url=https://toeinswim.co.uk/about/ |website=Toe in Swim |access-date=5 April 2026}}</ref>
== Teaching career == Moore's rugby years ran alongside a teaching career. In 1986 she was a biology teacher at St John Fisher School in Peterborough at the time of her international debut.<ref name="PS1986" /><ref name="PET1986" /> By 1987 she was teaching at Soham Village College working in biology, physical activity and personal and social health education.<ref name="HealthyYou">{{cite podcast |title=Healthy You – Val Moore |date=17 November 2021|url = https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/val-moore/id1553948118?i=1000542191568}}</ref>
== Public health career == After leaving full-time teaching, Moore moved into public health. She worked with Cambridgeshire Health Authority from 1989, initially in health promotion and later in senior advisory and leadership roles.<ref name="ENH2024">{{cite web |title=Public Board papers, 1 May 2024 |url=https://www.enherts-tr.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/1-May-24-Public-Board-papers.pdf |website=East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust |access-date=5 April 2026}}</ref> She subsequently worked as Regional Associate Director at the Health Development Agency and then joined the '''National Institute for Health and Care Excellence''' (NICE), where she held senior implementation roles between 2005 and 2015.<ref name="ENH2024" /> By 2021 she was serving as '''Chair of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough''', a role in which she spoke publicly on NHS staff support, end-of-life decision-making, health inequalities and fair access to healthcare innovation.<ref name="Healthwatch2021">{{cite web |title=Celebrating NHS staff achievements with HUC |url=https://www.healthwatchcambridgeshire.co.uk/news/2021-03-05/celebrating-nhs-staff-achievements-huc |website=Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough |date=5 March 2021 |access-date=5 April 2026}}</ref><ref name="HealthwatchRespect2021">{{cite web |title=Why ReSPECT matters in decisions near the end of life |url=https://www.healthwatchpeterborough.co.uk/news/2021-05-13/why-respect-matters-decisions-near-end-life |website=Healthwatch Peterborough |date=13 May 2021 |access-date=5 April 2026}}</ref><ref name="NHE2021">{{cite web |title=Cambridgeshire and Peterborough successful in bid for innovation hub |url=https://www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/articles/cambridgeshire-and-peterborough-successful-bid-innovation-hub |website=National Health Executive |date=24 June 2021 |access-date=5 April 2026}}</ref> The East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust board papers published in 2024 described her as a former NICE implementation director, former Chair of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and a Non-Executive Director of the trust.<ref name="ENH2024" />
== Swimming and later activities == Moore later developed a new sporting identity in open-water swimming. In her own account, this began with a swimming holiday in Croatia in 2008 with her partner, despite her not then being an effective front-crawl swimmer.<ref name="HealthyYou" /><ref name="ToeInSwim" /> Over the following years she became a committed open-water swimmer, later working as a coach and lifeguard and founding ''Toe in Swim''.<ref name="ToeInSwim" /> Her swimming work focused on confidence-building, safe acclimatisation to cold water and widening access to open-water swimming, including women-focused initiatives and support for less confident or less represented swimmers.<ref name="HealthyYou" /><ref name="ToeInSwim" />
== References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Val}}
Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:English female rugby union players Category:Great Britain women's international rugby union players Category:English rugby union coaches Category:England women's national rugby union team Category:Alumni of Loughborough University Category:Alumni of London South Bank University Category:People from Uxbridge Category:Sportspeople from Hinckley Category:English schoolteachers Category:Wasps Women rugby players Category:Loughborough Students RUFC players