Television sports presenter and big rugby fan Jill Douglas is the new president of Cheltenham Tigers.

She succeeds Dave Townsend having served previously as president of the club’s hugely successful ladies’ section.

“It’s a huge honour to be take over from Dave Townsend who has been such a servant to the club and is a real character,” said Douglas. “I’m delighted to take on the role, it was lovely to be asked.”

Douglas, who is from Scotland, has enjoyed close links with Cheltenham Tigers since moving to this part of the world in 2006.

Both her son and daughter played age group rugby at the club and she said: “It’s a great club, there are a lot of good people there, very friendly.

“They’ve got great facilities, it's very inclusive and, moving forward, we’re also hoping to start wheelchair rugby.”

Douglas, who is married to Carl Hogg, the former Scotland international and current Director of Academy and Development for Gloucester, has been a supporter of rugby for as long as she can remember.

The broadcaster, who is also a keen horseracing fan, hails from Hawick in the Scottish Borders and said: “Rugby is a huge part of Hawick life. I went to watch the club play at Mansfield Park every weekend from an early age.

“We had a very, very successful team in those days, at times providing the Scotland team with seven or eight players.”

She was a student of the game as a well as a supporter, so having already started to make a name for herself in television in the early 1990s it came as no surprise when she was asked to present BBC Scotland’s rugby coverage on Rugby Special a few years later.

She’s been a familiar face on our TV screens for many years now and will be part of the ITV team covering the upcoming World Cup, something she’s obviously looking forward to, although it does mean she’ll be away for the first couple of months of Cheltenham’s season.

She’ll be missed, of course, but she’ll receive regular updates on everything that’s going on at Newlands and she’ll certainly be hoping that the ladies’ teams can kick on after their cup double at Twickenham at the end of last season.

“The women’s teams’ success has been extraordinary,” said Douglas. “The women’s game has just exploded.”

So did Douglas ever play back in the day?

“No, I didn’t,” she said. “I was happy just spectating and supporting or reporting from the sidelines.

“We’ve had some great days down at Newlands and spent so many happy Sunday mornings there with the kids. I’m looking forward to seeing the club continue to flourish and giving people the opportunity to become involved in the game."