The 39-year-old former Doncaster Ladies player already has a team of three daughters regularly donning their boots and diving for the try-line.

Now she is looking to pass on more than 20 years of experience and expertise to any more young girls in the town interested in swapping their Barbie dolls for rugby balls.

"There's no ballet or tap dancing in my house," joked Suzie, a qualified coach and referee, who has taken it upon herself to launch a new under-15s girls team in association with Doncaster Knights.

"A lot of girls are put off by the possibility of getting injured. I think that tends to put a lot of girls off playing sport in general.

"I must have had three nutters for daughters because it doesn't seem to bother them!"

Youngest daughter Annie, also a sprinting sensation for Doncaster Athletics Club, is about to embark on her third full season in the sport after starting out playing tag rugby.

A winger or scrum half, the nine-year-old outshone all of her young male teammates by finishing top try scorer for her junior team last year.

Eldest Aimee, 17, took up rugby two years ago but faces a season on the sidelines this time around. Too old to play alongside boys and too young to play senior women's rugby, the teenager will take a year out to gain her level one coaching badge.

Fourteen-year-old Megan, meanwhile, is new to the game this season - and hoping to star in her mum's newly-formed team.

"Rugby is a tremendous sport," said Suzie. "It's about enjoyment and meeting people in the community and mixing with other teams. It's the friends you make and the whole atmosphere of the sport.

"If a team is short of players then the opposition will help them out. Rugby is also about respect and discipline.

"I would never take the girls to a football match because of the swearing and the aggression - but rugby is totally different."
Suzie, a local government project coordinator from Auckley, has sought special funding for her latest out-of-hours venture.

It is hoped that her new team will support progression into the Doncaster Demons ladies side which reformed in 2002 and compete in a regional league.

Suzie is also hoping that any newcomers to one of the fastest growing sports around gain as much from the game as she has done over the years.

"I've always been a rugby fan," she said. "It's just something I picked up and I've played since the age of 12 - although not so much now. The coaching and refereeing is demanding enough.

"It's just a great sport - much better than football - more active and physical.

"There aren't many girls teams about though and the main issue for us is funding. The RFU seem quite happy to fund it for boys but not for girls.
"We had four girls turn up to training last week and sadly we can't have a team without more players. We have a game organised for next month so hopefully by then we'll have a few more girls involved."
Training for the new under-15 girls team takes place at Castle Park on Sundays from 10.30am to noon and Fridays from 6pm till 7pm.

For more information email suzie.mussett@doncaster.gov.uk or contact Doncaster Knights on (01302) 831388.

*Toll Bar Rugby Club is also hosting an open event for girls aged 11 and over in the hope of forming a new women's section.

The event will take place at the club's Prospect Road ground on Saturday, October 11, from 10am-2pm.

Everyone is welcome. For more details call Jason Cross on 07740 724996.