Emily Ryall is a trailblazer.

The 47-year-old is the first woman to be president of the Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union, a position she is “very proud” to hold.

And a quick look at her CV tells you just how qualified she is for the role.

She enjoyed a stellar playing career, one that saw her win Premiership titles with both Clifton and London Saracens.

Primarily a fly-half, she won representative honours, too, and was twice called up to England training squads, although more about that later.

She coached Gloucester-Hartpury and Cheltenham Tigers once she stopped playing, and since then her many skills have enabled her to work in the discipline and governance elements at both the RRU and the GRFU, roles she continues to enjoy for the RFU.

What makes Ryall’s achievements all the more impressive is that she didn’t pick up a rugby ball in anger until she was 18.

“There weren’t the opportunities for girls to play rugby when I was growing up, girls weren’t even able to play football,” said Ryall, who hails from Cornwall.

But while she couldn’t play rugby, she was certainly around it.

“Rugby has been in my blood ever since I was very young, Cornwall is a big rugby county,” she said. “My family didn’t play rugby but we always supported the county and Redruth.”

She used to stand on Hellfire Corner, an experience that made being part of the rugby family just that bit more appealing.

“I used to have a rugby ball, I used to bounce it off the walls at home, I was always getting into trouble with my parents,” said Ryall, a professor at the University of Gloucestershire and a world-renowned philosopher on issues related to sports, games and play.

“As soon as I went to university I joined the rugby club, that was where my rugby journey began.”

That was at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and she made great strides there, so much so that she was selected to play for England Students.

She’d later play for both England Select and England A, so what were her strengths as a 10?

“I was good at creating space,” she said. “I was good at spotting gaps and putting others into space.

“I was quite quick, although I wasn’t the fastest, and I enjoyed place-kicking.”

She moved to this part of the world when she left university – “Gloucestershire seemed the perfect fit with all the rugby,” she said – and joined Clifton, who were then one of the best women’s teams around.

“I joined them in 1999 and that year they signed Susie Appleby, a load of Welsh players and a couple of New Zealanders. We were the first team outside London to win the Premiership title,” she said.

Appleby was an established England star who could play scrum-half or fly-half and her presence at the club meant that Ryall had to switch to full-back, a position she admits she didn’t enjoy as much as playing 10.

Not that it was too much of a hardship because she was winning games and playing alongside some of the best names in the game.

“It was good, I really enjoyed my time at Clifton, I was playing with top international players,” said Ryall, who added that one-time Wales star Non Evans was the best player she ever played with, describing her as “amazing”.

In 2003, Ryall moved to London Saracens where she won another Premiership title and played alongside England star Maggie Alphonsi.

“I know her very well, I used to give her lifts to training quite often,” said Ryall.

She returned to Clifton after four years and was one of the driving forces as the club moved out of Clifton and became Bristol Ladies. They are known as Bristol Bears Women today.

Ryall ended her playing days with Oakmeadians in Bournemouth some 12 or 13 years ago, although she did come out of retirement to play one more game for her former team-mate Appleby.

“It was for Gloucester-Hartpury,” she said. “They were just setting up and Susie was their head coach, it was against Wootton Bassett.”

Gloucester-Hartpury are now one of the strongest women’s teams around, of course, and their progress, and the progress of so many other teams at all levels across the country, shows just how far women’s and girls’ rugby has come over the past 20-plus years.

“It’s been brilliant to see,” said Ryall, who lives just outside Gloucester. “It’s really important to keep growing the women’s and girls’ game, it’s something special.”

Ryall, who will serve for two years as president of the GRFU after taking over from Adrian Siddorn last summer, is perfectly placed to help maintain that upward trajectory in the county, but she wants to see the game thrive across the board.

“Part of my role is to promote and support the game in Gloucestershire – men, women, boys and girls,” she said.

She was looking forward to going to Minchinhampton to watch a game when she spoke to The Local Answer and she continued: “Clubs are working really hard to attract players to the men’s game in the 18-30 age group.

“The RFU has introduced the Game On initiative aimed at getting games played, there are Friday night games, we’re trying to be more flexible.

“But there’s still a lot to be done with regards to head injuries, rugby in schools and dealing with the impact of Covid.

“We’re doing all we can to support clubs in Gloucestershire, we’re doing everything we can to support the game.

“I’m so passionate about rugby, I want to give back to the game, rugby has given so much to me.”

It certainly has, although back in the day she did miss out on those two full England training sessions she was invited to. So what happened?

“The first one clashed with Mother’s Day, I’d already promised my mum I was going to see her,” she said, with a laugh.

And the second time?

“They left a message on my answer machine, it was in the days before mobile phones,” she explained. “I picked up the message two or three days later by which time the training session had already taken place!”