[2] LSWRFC were initially founded in the late 1970s during a boom in women playing rugby at universities across England.

[4] Two years later, they hosted the American touring Wiverns rugby team and provided a number of players to the Midlands Select XV that played against the Wiverns on their tour.

A year later it announced that Loughborough Lightning were successful in their bid for a place in the top flight of English women's rugby.

This made them the only student team that was awarded a franchise to play in the league.

[8] This was controversial as Loughborough Lightning had not previously played in the RFUW leagues and Lichfield Ladies who had been in the Women's Premiership for 15 years were excluded.