Rugby gender pay gap

THE wage gap between male and female athletes has never been more apparent than in South African rugby, and no one seems to care. While male players can reportedly earn R35 000 a month at provincial level, the R60 to R150 per game for women’s rugby players – with some teams not paid a single cent – makes the disparity look particularly egregious. This is according to the numerous female provincial rugby players from various teams who spoke this week. While they’ve been happy to show proof of their tiny stipends – if they’ve received any at all – none are able to go on the record about the pay issue.

“The women who tried to make a noise about it in the past have been kicked off the team. Those of us who are passionate about playing can’t take that risk,” one of the players said. They’re not demanding equal pay, they say, but just some way to supplement the income from their day jobs, to be able to afford to practise more and become better.

“It would be wonderful to be paid for doing what you loved, but most women players are underrated or ignored, so you start to get used to it,” another player said. And according to that same player, for injuries sustained during practice or game, it’s up to the players to pay the medical bills.

In 2016, Media24 reported on the South African Rugby Union (Saru) providing lucrative contracts to attract provincial players, with Southern Kings junior players offered R35 000 a month. The year prior, Saru said it was encouraging more professional male players to see out their careers in South Africa, increasing funding from R25 million to R90m a year. Questions were sent to Saru about its spending model – the questions were ignored.

In fact, most of the questions posed by the Saturday Star, sister newspaper of Independent on Saturday, were ignored, with only a statement from a “generic spokesperson” provided from the union. “South African rugby is excited and committed to the challenge of growing women’s rugby in this country. It is a major focus of the world game and globally there has been an explosion in the interest in the women’s rugby.

“We started late in South Africa: the first women’s Test did not take place until 2004 when other countries have been playing the sport among women for decades. To date we have played only a handful of Tests with amateur players although we established a professional women’s Sevens squad in 2015.

“They are trained in the same facility as the Blitzboks in Stellenbosch but play fewer fixtures and have not yet qualified to be part of the Women’s Sevens World Series. Our challenge is the small number of female players from which we can choose but we have addressed that by creating Under-16 and Under-18 competitions as well as establishing youth training centres around the country where female players can train and be upskilled.

“Once we have reached a critical mass of female players we will be able to think of professionalising the women’s provincial game,” the statement read.