How the west was won

West Australia doesn't have many rugby legends.

In fact, it might be fair to say it doesn't have any.

John Welborn is the only genuine Perth player to have become a Wallaby. After that, people just scratch their heads when the subject of local rugby identities comes up and, to be honest, they are scratching when they come up with Welborn as well.

There are a couple of local heroes lurking about though, known as the "scrum mums".

Jennifer Hoskins, who came to Perth from her native Sussex in England 20 years ago, and her South African mate Irma Cooper are the toast of Western Australian rugby.

They took a simple idea and ran with it to the point that they are credited with tipping the battle with Melbourne for a Super 14 team Perth's way.

Perth was last week given the hosting rights for the fourth Australian team from 2006, ending decades of rugby isolation.

While Melbourne sat on its haunches, relying on a sporting reputation and a technical bid, Perth outdid it on heart.

Hoskins and Cooper are rugby mad characters from rugby mad families, each with three teenage rugby-playing sons.

Hoskins, 40, proudly describes her husband Nick - they were teenage sweethearts - as rugby crazy.

She even spent three weeks making ye olde English fighting garb, complete with fake chain mail, for her family to wear while greeting and watching England in Perth during last year's World Cup. Their photographs made newspapers around the world.

But that was a mere test run for a far more serious project - their bid to propel Perth into the Super 14.

At the suggestion of Hoskins' 15-year-old son Tobias, they came up with the concept of a giant "people banner".

Somehow, as Hoskins explains, the Perth media found out about the plan before they were even committed to it and, hey presto, the show was on the road.

Just three weeks later, after a load of work and even a few publicity stunts, 7000 people turned up to a rally at Subiaco Oval to be herded into a giant "Super 14 For Perth" sign, which was photographed from the air and included in the bid.

It was the first day of summer, an international car rally was in town and test cricket was on television - which made it all the more special.

And Hoskins and Cooper did it all without official support.

The rugby union and the state Government kept their distance, not wanting to be tarred by any brush with failure.

Hoskins says: "We'd already been in the paper and on the TV so we'd had our minds made up for us - we didn't have a chance to think too hard about it.

"And Irma is a powerhouse ... Once she got involved, Melbourne didn't stand a chance.

"What really frightened Western Australian rugby was here were these two madcap mothers who were suddenly in the papers and on TV without them really knowing anything about it. They didn't know us from a bar of soap.

"We didn't look beyond the end of our noses, but if we had flopped we could have done more damage than good. One official said so to Irma."

On the big day Hoskins' husband, who runs an oil exploration company, rang from the streets to say the good citizens of Perth were flocking to the ground.

Hoskins has a resemblance to the actress Kate Winslet but her rugby passion is clearly no act.

The Herald didn't get to meet Cooper, who was on holiday in South Africa, but if she is the powerhouse of the two then it must have been quite some force.

Hoskins says: "We had a league team [the Western Reds] here and it was a money-making, big-television, media-mogul stunt. It was embarrassing. Nobody wanted them.

"But we had seen the passion among rugby people at internationals here.

"Still, people said a league team didn't work so why should a union team succeed. We took care of that. And there are 7000 people who feel like they own this team now - they are personally responsible for bringing that team here.

"It has changed my life in this way.

"My children have dreams to go to the top in rugby and they can now do it in Perth. It's important they know that, as a family, we took their dreams seriously.

"And even if they don't make it to the top, I know that six or seven times a year I'll be at a rugby game with them having a blast."

Australian Rugby Union chief executive Gary Flowers went out of his way to acknowledge the influence of the "scrum mums", saying: "It's really critical to appreciate the level of connectivity with the community this submission demonstrated, and in many ways this was a victory for people power."

Hoskins is hoping a stadium section is set aside for a Perth-style Barmy Army, to be known as The Committed (as in "insanely dedicated"). And she hopes the team are named the Western Wave, to reflect strength and power. Like the scrum mums.

Tomorrow: Chris Rattue continues his reports from Perth, examining what visiting teams can expect.