Utrecht Shield (a women's Raeburn Shield)

[grande Profile]

So, I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Raeburn Shield. It's essentially a (theoretical) challenge trophy that is defended whenever the current holder plays a game.

I was curious what a women's rugby analogue would look like, so I looked through Wikipedia, and put together what I'm calling the Utrecht Shield.

Some notes:

* It's currently held by England
* The next defense is England vs France this weekend (Nov 9)
* Nine countries have held it: France, Netherlands, Great Britain, United States, England, New Zealand, Ireland, Wales, Italy
* New Zealand survived the most defenses: Twenty games between 2002 and 2009
* South Africa has never played for it
* All Six Nations countries, save Scotland, have held it at one time
* Canada, despite being a long-time big name in women's rugby, and currently ranked #2 in the world, has never held it
* It changed had three times during the most recent Six Nations (France -> Wales -> England -> France)

You can see a list of all matches here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[sammo Profile]

I love this! What was the reasoning behind your choice of first match?

[grande Profile]

I love this! What was the reasoning behind your choice of first match?

That was the first ever women's international game. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s ... ournaments

[sammo Profile]

That makes sense! I assumed the first match would have been much earlier than this...

[NedRugby Profile]

Nice work grande.

I think you've got the Belgian score reversed though. I can't imagine them beating France 66-0.

[grande Profile]

Nice work grande.

I think you've got the Belgian score reversed though. I can't imagine them beating France 66-0.

Whoops! Good eye, thanks!

[johnbirch Profile]

TBH I am not sure how up to date the Wikipedia pages are now (as I haven't done it for ages). If you can see it this maybe the best lost ATM as it includes a few more recently discovered tests.

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx/Doc ... =documents

[grande Profile]

TBH I am not sure how up to date the Wikipedia pages are now (as I haven't done it for ages). If you can see it this maybe the best lost ATM as it includes a few more recently discovered tests.

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx/Doc ... =documents

It seems like someone's been maintaining it, but I'm not sure. I'd be more than willing to, but I don't seem to have access to that file you linked?

[johnbirch Profile]

TBH I am not sure how up to date the Wikipedia pages are now (as I haven't done it for ages). If you can see it this maybe the best lost ATM as it includes a few more recently discovered tests.

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx/Doc ... =documents

It seems like someone's been maintaining it, but I'm not sure. I'd be more than willing to, but I don't seem to have access to that file you linked?

Okay - try this https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... TM/pubhtml

I've converted it from Excel. I'm not sure all of it has comverted properly (though the main thing - the scores - have).

[grande Profile]

Sweet! I can see that one! Next step: Combing through wikipedia... Time for a rye...

Edit: I'm glad to say, although I found three new tests, none of them affected the outcome at all.

[grande Profile]

England holds onto the shield. Next match is Sunday vs Ireland in Dublin.

[grande Profile]

I kinda forgot to keep updating this thread (but I have been updating the Google Drive, above)... After five defences by New Zealand, the Shield returns to England.

[grande Profile]

I was bored over the past few days, so I set up a website: http://utrechtshield.com/ and twitter account: https://twitter.com/utrechtshield

Give me a follow!

[iul Profile]

Make the "current holder" and "next challenge" much larger. Those are the focus of the page, yet they look like they're just some regular text, like the one on the left where it's explained what this shield is.

[grande Profile]

Make the "current holder" and "next challenge" much larger. Those are the focus of the page, yet they look like they're just some regular text, like the one on the left where it's explained what this shield is.

Good suggestion! I'll look into that, but my design skills leave a lot to be desired

Edit: Played around with it a bit... Thoughts? I'm always open to suggestions!

[sammo Profile]

I think you've got a mistake on the 'All Games' page. On 30th Sept 2000 you list England 13 - 32 United States, but the Google Doc you posted earlier in this thread has England 13 - 32 New Zealand.

Edit: Also, in the title and home button you've spelled Utrecht wrong!

[iul Profile]

Make the "current holder" and "next challenge" much larger. Those are the focus of the page, yet they look like they're just some regular text, like the one on the left where it's explained what this shield is.

Good suggestion! I'll look into that, but my design skills leave a lot to be desired

Edit: Played around with it a bit... Thoughts? I'm always open to suggestions!

Still not good enough.
It should be something like...


... with the upcoming challenge listed in a similar fashion below current holder, including with the flag for both countries.

EDIT: maybe center the text above the current holders as well.

EDIT2: write "current holder", singular, not plural, as there can only be one at a time.

[grande Profile]

I think you've got a mistake on the 'All Games' page. On 30th Sept 2000 you list England 13 - 32 United States, but the Google Doc you posted earlier in this thread has England 13 - 32 New Zealand.

I'll look into that...

Edit: Also, in the title and home button you've spelled Utrecht wrong!

Oh fuck, that's embarrassing!

[sammo Profile]

Hey man, the layout looks much better! But the info in the all games section is still slightly wrong;

New Zealand 45 - 0 United States 27th September 2000
England 13 - 32 United States 30th September 2000
New Zealand 15 - 10 England 9th June 2001

The middle game should be England 13 - 32 New Zealand

It doesn't change any of the outcomes, you've just mixed the teams up!

[iul Profile]

Why is it named the Utrecht Shield? You should have an explanation for that as well

[grande Profile]

Hey man, the layout looks much better! But the info in the all games section is still slightly wrong;

New Zealand 45 - 0 United States 27th September 2000
England 13 - 32 United States 30th September 2000
New Zealand 15 - 10 England 9th June 2001

The middle game should be England 13 - 32 New Zealand

It doesn't change any of the outcomes, you've just mixed the teams up!

Great catch! I'll update that later today.

[grande Profile]

Why is it named the Utrecht Shield? You should have an explanation for that as well

I stole that from the Raeburn Shield as well The first mens test was at Raeburn Place; The first womens test was in Utrecht.

There's a note about it on the front page, but it's kinda small... I'm thinking of adding an FAQ page.

[johnbirch Profile]

Why is it named the Utrecht Shield? You should have an explanation for that as well

I stole that from the Raeburn Shield as well The first mens test was at Raeburn Place; The first womens test was in Utrecht.

There's a note about it on the front page, but it's kinda small... I'm thinking of adding an FAQ page.

Trust you will have noproblem if I do a write up about it on SQ?
(Note the IF... there really are not remotely enough hours in the day sometimes!)

[Canalina Profile]

I never said you but you have had a very nice idea with this Utrecht Shield, Grande.
Wrote about it a little post in our facebook page one week ago and I'm one of your four proud followers on twitter : )

[grande Profile]

Why is it named the Utrecht Shield? You should have an explanation for that as well

I stole that from the Raeburn Shield as well The first mens test was at Raeburn Place; The first womens test was in Utrecht.

There's a note about it on the front page, but it's kinda small... I'm thinking of adding an FAQ page.

Trust you will have noproblem if I do a write up about it on SQ?
(Note the IF... there really are not remotely enough hours in the day sometimes!)

No problem at all! I'd love that!

I never said you but you have had a very nice idea with this Utrecht Shield, Grande.
Wrote about it a little post in our facebook page one week ago and I'm one of your four proud followers on twitter : )

Thanks! It's certainly not the most popular account on twitter Can you send me a link to your Facebook post?