WHAT YOU SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THIS MONTH…
Could the women’s game evolve in a new direction?
NETFLIX HAVE signed on for a second series of SixNations:
FullContact. And by some accounts there has been a loosening of the shackles by teams who were, shall we say, less than charitable with access in year one of the show.
The news emerged at around the time of the Women’s Six Nations launch for this season, and so naturally there were questions as to whether the women deserve their share of the spotlight as well. Growth, as ever, is the watchword.
But then something else was raised and this is the intriguing talking point: should the laws of the women’s game diverge from those for the men’s game? Six Nations CEO Tom Harrison had some thoughts on it.
“I think there are really exciting opportunities for the women’s game to do things slightly differently,” he said. “In terms of player safety and wellbeing, we know the physiology of women’s bodies throws different challenges into the authorities about how we regulate against ACL injuries, for example. Rugby has got its own very well-known and understood argument around player safety, head impact and all that kind of thing. We need to make sure that the women’s game has its own answers to those questions and don’t be surprised if that does end up going in a slightly different direction for the right reasons.
“I happen to think the women’s game will continue to grow at an exceptionally fast pace and so these decisions might come quite quickly to us over the next few years, but I think the game might look quite different. I hope it does. I think we will see the women’s game push into a more spatially aware area, a lot of pace in the game, less of the issues that we face in the men’s game.”
Less hammer, more glamour? Harrison is hinting at rapid, elusive rugby. It’s an interesting dream. Will it go that way?