A TAVISTOCK firefighter who is also a rugby player is delighted to have been selected to for the first-ever GB women firefighters rugby team.

Bethan Ruskin, who has been playing for the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service team for some time, travelled to East London to take part in trials for a new GB team with fire crew rugby players from across the country.

Bethan, 32, who lives in Tavistock and has two young children, said: ‘I play for Plymstock Albion, which is the nearest [women’s rugby] club to Tavistock and then Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service have their own team. Anyone who plays in that team can trial for the GB team, so we all headed up for the trials in East London and I have been lucky enough to be selected. There were 70-80 people there and there were five of us from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue.’

Bethan, who has lived in Tavistock all her life, has been a firefighter at the town fire station for 11 years and playing rugby since she was a teenager. She has been involved in the town fire station all her life, as her father was a firefighter there before her.

‘Being able to be a rugby player as well as a firefighter is the best of both worlds,’ she said. ‘The only downside are any injuries I pick up playing rugby.

‘I work as a retained firefighter in Tavistock and also I work for the fire service as a home fire service technician. We have our drill night at the fire station on Thusdays and then I play local rugby every Wednesday.

She explained that as part of the women’s GB rugby team they would be looking to play fire crew teams from other countries, as well as teams from the Services, the police and Prison Service. ‘Our next match is on March 8 against the British Police, in Nottingham. They try to pick the fixtures all over the UK, which for us being down here in Devon are all quite far away. I have played for the firefighters’ squad [for Devon and Somerset] for years, but this is the first time they have had a GB firefighters team so we have made history with that really. We should be having fixtures against Sweden and France’

For Bethan, playing rugby and being a firefighter go hand in hand. ‘My dad was a firefighter and I’ve grown up in the fire service and played rugby since I was 15. I think it is awesome to be selected. It is the best honour to play for the GB team, it is never going to get higher than this.’