The Power Pod (00:00.782) Hello everybody, it's Nick here. Thank you for clicking onto this little bonus bit of content from the Power Pod. As you know, we've always got a lot to squeeze into our weekly episodes and so sometimes we've got extra long interviews that we can share with you separately like this. And we've got a double for you here because we have Ealing Trail Finders Ella Amory and the England Captain...

Zoe Aldcroft. So both of these were recorded recently. I've been meaning to get this one, this chat up from Ella Amory for quite a while and it is a superb listen to someone who is really going places. A great business idea in her offload agency. So first up, enjoy my chat with Ealing Trailfinders, Ella Amory. Well, it's a very good afternoon to Ella Amory. Hi, Ella. How are you? Hi, I'm good. Thanks. How are you? Yeah, really good. Thank you. So...

You've been in touch and I am fascinated by this because you've come up with what seems to me like a pretty decent business idea. Let's get into it then. Offload is the name of it. What's it all about? So offload, literally to take the load off of someone, is a platform that eases connections between women rugby players and clubs, unions and universities around the world. So how it works is you've got your profile as a player, your rugby CV.

So essentially you sell yourself as best you can. And then on the flip side, you've got a club, for example, that could be looking for a very specific profile. They could reach out to you or they could post an offer which you can then apply for. It's almost like LinkedIn, but purely for women's rugby. Nice. And where did this idea come from? So there's two things. Firstly, for my 23rd birthday, my dad got me a little notepad saying, how could we

bridged a gap between the French national team and the English national team. He was like, you could help French players come across to the PWR, play in the highest standard rugby, week in, week out, go back to the national team and then bring that higher, let that level a bit higher. And then the second thing was, say as a player, I have come from Belgium. I was quite lucky to find Harlequins in the first place. And then recently wanted to go and play abroad again.

The Power Pod (02:18.562) But really hard to get in touch with anything that's outside of the UK. It's quite hard to find the right number, find an email address, is a real email address or anything. Just speaking to someone was very hard. And so I was like, how can I make this easier for everyone? how can anyone, like any rugby player in a few clicks, regardless of who they know, regardless of what the background is.

as long as they have the skills and they can create a strong profile, give everyone the same opportunity to then go and play abroad or even connect with their national team. And do you think it's that background from having been in Belgium and perhaps that European link that has really set you on your way to say, okay, I almost have a foot in different camps here, I can understand how difficult this international transition can be to go from one place to another? Definitely, I think so.

I've had not an issue, but a few times where obviously come from a country that's not a rugby country and people just sort of look down on you a little bit. it wasn't always how good I was, it was also like who I was. And so I want to reduce that bias as much as possible with offload. Yeah, by allowing people to actually see in black and white what your experience is. And in terms of, you know, I'm sure

be people at some of the clubs, let's say the PWR, which is the best league in the world. But I'm sure there will be people at those clubs that would say, we're doing our best to keep in touch with who the players are around the world and who might be wanting to come to these shores and get a game. I guess, habit is habit and people might be looking in the same old places. Have you had conversations with people in those clubs to say, where are you looking and would this service be of benefit to you?

Yeah. So the last two weeks since the launch on the 5th of January, my job has been getting in touch with as many clubs as possible, in as many places in the world as possible. So whether that's the U S Japan, Australia, New Zealand, England, Belgium, France, like I've, I've been having this conversations to try and bring the clubs on the platform. there is a three months free trial for clubs to try it out because I, I generally do believe that it's useful and that it will pay.

The Power Pod (04:42.598) pay out. Yeah. Yeah, is that the word? That it will pay out in the end for them. So it's just a case of creating that momentum to go back to rugby, creating the momentum towards the platform and creating trust as well at the moment. Yeah, that's really interesting. And is it something that is existing just in the 15th format of the game? Is the option there if you're a 7th player or perhaps you want to go and play some 10s? Yeah, so it's for everything.

as long as you're a female rugby player. So rugby union, rugby league, sevens, fifteens, your club will sign up, obviously with the title of being a fifteenth club or a seventh club or a tens club. And then equally your, as a player will sign up and say what you are. So if you've played sevens, you can put that in your bio. If you've only played fifteens, if you've just played league or if you can play both, similar.

And, you know, I'm hoping that everybody is going to use your services faithfully as possible, but what is there to stop somebody saying, yes, I've played for many years at the very top level in France and actually maybe they haven't. What sort of checks and balances are you going to have in place? So there's obviously other sources that you can use to check that information. I guess the main one is in your club bio, there is...

the clubs you've been at, the dates, and then the coaches you've worked under. So that means if Eunuch wants to reach out to Giselle, for example, who coached me last year, you can ask, first of all, to check what I've put on my profile and if that's true. So if I say I'm really good at handling, then you call Giselle and she's like, actually, that's one of her weakest points. Then you can sort of check the viability of my information, but then also you can check if that information is true or not. Because essentially.

there's only so much I can do to prevent people from lying. Yeah. But I do hope that people are truthful when they come onto the platform and put their best foot forward without having to disguise reality. Absolutely. Well, you'd imagine that you would hope people will use it in good faith.

The Power Pod (06:48.222) You mentioned as well, wanting to perhaps narrow that gap between one of England's closest rivals, which have been France, who that gap seems to have been getting wider over the last decade perhaps. Actually, why do think we're not seeing that many, if any, French players in the PWR? Because there is a lot of talent over the channel. Is it a language barrier thing? How might we see a few more of those up and coming French stars in the PWR?

Um, a couple of things, think the language barrier is definitely there and is big and is a real problem. Um, however, to play in the PWR from abroad, you now have to be capped for your country. Um, however, the French national team only selects players that play in France. So you have that thing where you have to be capped to play in the PWR, but then also you have to play in your home championship to be eligible to play for your country. like.

We had the case of Elisabeth Fonneau who was playing for Trail Finders last year. She had been capped already and through her studies, she was allowed to go abroad for a year, which was a, literally the one case where she spoke to her national team. They agreed that she could go for a season, but then go back and then, play in the French league again. So I guess perhaps something, something for them to look at of maybe letting more people go abroad or, you know, still keeping an eye on.

their put of players, even though they haven't been capped or they have been capped, they are going for a few years. Yeah. And I think actually some of those regulations that, for example, Bristol had to work very hard to work on to get Ilona Mar to come to the PWR. I think some of those things may be being looked at because there are other players that may not be as such a special case who would still love to play in the league. And perhaps that's something that they can look at to make more players eligible. In terms of your message then,

What sort of assistance do you need from the women's rugby community? What can we do to help Offload get known far and wide by players who might want to register? Well, I guess sign up. It's completely free for players. Sign up, speak about it, get your friends to speak about it. We're on social media as well. So any likes, shares, follows, anything like that really, really helps. I'm really trying to bring as much momentum as possible and I need the buy in now.

The Power Pod (09:11.66) don't see why it wouldn't happen. It's just a case of being patient and, yeah, keeping active on social media for me. Yeah. Well, look, it's one of those things as the women's game continues to develop. On the one hand, some people might think this sort of thing should be in place. The network should already be there. But on the other hand, if in your experience personally, it hasn't been there and you've opted to build this from where you were standing.

that might help other people, then it really proves that actually some of these things are still needed for the women's game to develop. Would you agree? Yeah, 100%. I've tried to travel this season and it was such a pain to try and get in touch with anyone. Email addresses that actually you send emails that don't get delivered or Instagram messages that you send to clubs hoping someone replies, but no one ever replies because it's a marketing page. It's not.

the contact page. However, I've been playing in the best league in the world, have international caps. I don't see why a club wouldn't look at my profile. However, it is the case. And in my head, if it's the case for me, it's the case for a good bunch of players. So can I reduce that? Can I make that easier? Can I improve connections in the woman's world? And some clubs worry that they can't offer anything and they think,

I need to pay a a full-time wage for them to be able to come across the globe and play for me. But actually, I know a lot of people would be happy to go for a year if you help them find a job, if you help them find accommodation. The players are willing to do the job in exchange of experience and playing in the sunshine. And that stuff is something that's valuable, probably more than money.

I would say. Certainly playing in the sunshine at this time of year, I'm sure all the offers from Australia can come flooding in through January and February. Listen, wish you all the best of luck with it. It's a fantastic idea. I really hope that you get the buy-in from the players and that this can be one of those moments that we look back on in a few years time and go, well look, do you remember what Ella Amary started? Because the success of this would be really interesting to watch. So yeah, wishing you the very best of luck. Thank you so much, Nick.

The Power Pod (11:28.942) My huge thanks to Ella for that conversation. And of course, recently we heard through John Mitchell that his new England captain going into 2025 is the Gloucester Harpreet co-captain Zoe Aldcroft. Zoe will be working with those vice captains of Meg Jones and Marley Packer. But a little while ago, I had the chance to sit down with Zoe and talk to her all about how she found out she'd be captain and what she thinks she'll bring to the role.

Well Zoe, not many people get asked to be England captain. Congratulations. Can you talk me through that process? What's it like? It's an absolute honour to have been asked by Mitch to be England captain. He rang me up a couple of Thursdays ago explaining the reasons behind it. My heart was beating 100 miles an hour at the time, but honestly it's an absolute privilege and I'm super excited to see what this team can do leading up to...

the World Cup this year. Yeah, where were you when the call came through? I was stood in my kitchen actually having breakfast and then I was like kind of swinging on things, I like I'm to sit and still want to hear information but yeah so I was at home and yeah phone, no one was with me so I phoned Luke up straight away but it was yeah.

It was nice to share that with him. Yeah, I should imagine so. You've been, obviously, Gloucester Harbury club co-captain, been part of the Red Roses leadership group. So you're used to a bit of leading, that's fair to say. How do you see captaincy? What do you think is important? I think for me, like, I'm a lead by example kind of person. Like, I like to bring others up around me on the pitch. And...

I probably don't see myself as the biggest speaker ever. I've got a lot of girls in the leadership group, in this whole squad actually, that are absolutely fantastic talkers, like motivational. And I think I can give them that space to be able to lead us in those areas. I think when I choose to speak, it's when I really want to, I really mean something that I am saying. So I think for me, it's making sure I keep...

The Power Pod (13:38.36) doing exactly what I'm doing, being so diligent with everything that I do and leading in that way. Because you love the rugby, don't you? I absolutely love the rugby and honestly I would do anything to drive this team to see how far our potential can go. We want to be this phenomenal team and I'm ready to take us there. Yeah, that's fantastic and where this team have gone, obviously continuing to develop under John Mitchell, knowing that teams are trying to close that gap to you but...

Do you believe in this World Cup year, this 2025, that there are still further better places that this Red Roses team can go? Yeah, definitely. I think we spoke after WXV kind of saying that we're not quite at the... We're basically climbing Everest at the minute and we're not at the summit yet. We've got a whole Six Nations tournament to go to see how far we can grow as a team. And I think we speak about keeping our feet... We speak about...

being where our feet are. And I think that's so important to just stay in the moment and get better each day. And I think it'll really drive us to being something phenomenal at that Rugby World Cup. Yeah, lovely. And the captains that you've played under in the past, was the first captain that you were part of a team in? So I think for the Red Roses was Sarah Hunter. Obviously she was a phenomenal captain, obviously led by Zan Poole when she spoke.

she really meant what she was saying. She was a really incredible captain. think it can take a lot from what she gave to us as the Red Roses, because we had her for a number of years. And then obviously just recently, Marley, who was absolutely fantastic for us, like she's an unbelievable energy driver. She loves to motivate, but also she's really caring and she loves to be able to fix loads of different things that are going on in camps. Two very, very good leaders. And then obviously,

Gloucester, co-captain with Mo Hunt, who is also an incredible part and is part of this leadership group and she's just kind of got the empathetic side, like real cares about people and wants to do the best by everybody so it's real good team that we have. Yeah and so Marley's going to be in that co-captaincy role or vice-captaincy role I should say and along with Meg Jones as well who you know is tearing up trees in the PWR, has obviously had a challenging year which a few of us are aware of but

The Power Pod (16:01.614) but I'm sure is going to be another one of those vocal parts of the leadership group for you. Yeah, definitely. So we call it the power of three. And so I've got Marley and Meg as the vice captains, which are going to be incredible, incredible supports. Obviously, Marley's got the experience, the knowledge. She's obviously been there, done it. And then Meg, she's absolutely diligent in everything she does. She's an amazing character to have around. And yeah, she's just fantastic. Excellent. So finally then 2025, we're coming into...

The Women's Six Nations period after the end of the PWR season in a couple of months time and then a summer to prepare for this World Cup. you get a sense, do you feel already like this is going to be a massive year? Yeah, I think we've just met up for the first time this year and kind of got our thoughts on to how we want to approach it, how we want to be away from camp, how are we going to be like when we get into camp. So I think it's kind of give us a little bit of motivation as how we're going to attack the year and I think we're all on the same page and we're going to be...

doing the best that we can every day to be able to achieve what we want to achieve. Thanks so much for listening. Make sure you've tuned in to the latest episode of the PowerPod. We'll see you soon.