Four former Richmond Women's Rugby players have been inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, being recognised as pioneers of the women's game. 

Deborah Griffin, Sue Dorrington, Alice D. Cooper, and Mary Forsyth, all of whom played for Richmond, are among six inductees to the Hall of Fame for 2022 as World Rugby pays tribute to the impact they had on the development of the women's game. 

All four played for Richmond during the 1970s and 1980s and were part of the organising committee for the inaugural Women's Rugby World Cup in 1991, an idea which was first proposed by Griffin. 

In a statement on the World Rugby website, World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: "It will be particularly special this year to honour those who have made an enormous contribution to the growth of the women's game as pioneers and inspirers. 

"From those who challenged the establishment to launch the first women's Rugby World Cup, to Kathy Flores, a pioneering driving force behind the growth of the women's game in the USA, and a five-time Rugby World Cup participant, world champion and game legend Fiao'o Fa'amausili.  

"All have made a significant contribution to the history of our sport and, it is with their pioneering spirit that we will accelerate the profile, growth and impact of women in rugby worldwide." 

Having originally taken up rugby whilst at university, Griffin soon joined Richmond and became a co-founder of England's Rugby Football Union for Women and having been an influential figure in Women's Rugby, in 2018 she became the first female member of the RFU to be elected to the World Rugby Council. 

Dorrington was born in Minnesota and started playing rugby in the 1980s, before moving to London in 1983 in the hope of playing competitive rugby, where she joined Richmond. 

She was the commercial manager for the first Women's Rugby World Cup, where she also played for England and is the only player to represent Richmond in three separate decades. 

Cooper joined Richmond in 1986 after being told on a night out by two players that they could do with tall players like her. 

She was a regular writer for the Rugby World and Post, writing column on the women's game, contributing to her becoming press officer for that first World Cup and she would subsequently fulfil the same role for the WRFU. 

Forsyth was born in Pittsburgh and she discovered rugby whilst attending Penn State University and after transferring to London for work she met Griffin and Dorrington in Finchley and then Cooper in Richmond, where she would use her accounting skills to balance the club's finances. 

She served as financial controller for the 1991 World Cup and went on to become the Treasurer and Chair of the women's section of Richmond Rugby Club. 

The other two inductees to this year's Hall of Fame are Kathy Flores, winner of the 1991 World Cup as a player and the first woman of colour to manage at the international level, and Fiao'o Fa'amausili, who played at five World Cups winning four.