East London Rugby Club have thanked sports equipment manufacturing brand Aramis Rugby for gifting balls and equipment to the club’s new pathway to rugby programme for girls aged 11 to 18.

Aramis, a family-run business based in South Molton, Devon, were an official supporter of the recent Rugby World Cup staged in France where they provided training and fitness equipment to the 20 participating teams.

The company recently held an equipment giveaway competition and the East London girls’ pathway programme based at the club in Memorial Park, West Ham, was a lucky winner and received ten brightly coloured Aramis-branded balls and a bag as well as tackle shields and tackle bags suitable for young people to use.

Roshni Mahajan, owner of Aramis Rugby, which supplies equipment to more than 3,000 rugby clubs, schools and universities worldwide, said: “We received a lot of entries for our competition but we saw an opportunity to be able to make a difference to the girls at the club, something I didn’t get when I wanted to pursue my passion for cricket while at school in India. It is important to do what we can to improve support and facilities for women in sport, especially at grassroots level.”

The pathway project sees the club working with girls aged 11 to 18 from Morpeth School in Bethnal Green, where former East London player John Mulholland teaches. The school started their own rugby programme but East London has given the project a home with a pathway to playing for the East London RFC Vixens ladies’ side. More than 25 girls from multiple ethnic backgrounds are now taking their first steps into club rugby. They travel together as a group to and from the club on Thursday evenings.

East London’s women’s rugby officer Kat Salthouse did an interview about the project live on BBC London Radio’s The London Sport Show together with Roshni from Aramis. Kat said: “Our club relies heavily on sponsorship and donations and we thank Aramis Rugby for their generosity. Our girls’ pathway programme is a new project so this support for grassroots sport is incredible.”