Red Roses can help women’s game blossom
Last week we celebrated Women’s Sport Week by shining a spotlight on women’s rugby and as a Union, laid out our intent to continue to grow the game from grassroots to elite level.
Today there are 26,000 women and girls playing regular contact rugby in England, we are World Cup champions, and support for the game is on the rise.
We have now set ourselves ambitious targets – we want to double that number and will continue to invest in the player pathway and develop the elite game, both on a domestic and international level. Our ambition is to be the best in the world and we are working hard to retain that World Cup in Ireland next August.
Last week we hosted over 100 grassroots events, aimed at women and girls, up and down the country, while at Twickenham Stadium we unveiled our vision for the women’s game.
This included launching the Red Roses, a new look for England Women and one that is intrinsically linked with England Rugby.
With the first sponsored Old Mutual Wealth Series this autumn, featuring the world’s best sides on our doorstep, a highly-competitive Six Nations in the spring, and then the defence of the World Cup title in Ireland, it really is a momentous year for England Women.
Not that the last few months have been insignificant with the Team GB’s Sevens teams showcasing all that is great about the short code, and the arrival of 48 professional contracts both for Sevens, and for the first time, our 15-a-side team.
The focus is therefore stronger than ever and what a perfect opportunity in the Red Roses to give fans something aspirational to get behind and support.
Since 2012, we have invested more than £20 million in growing women’s rugby and after the Women’s World Cup win in 2014, we set out to get 10,000 more women and girls playing the game by 2017.
We reached that target a year ahead of schedule and now look to bolster those numbers for the 2021 World Cup. We aim to not only get 50,000 players by that time, but also increase the number of matches by over 130 per cent.
To do this, we need to increase the number of teams to more than 800 and the number of active female clubs by 30 per cent tomore than 400, while developing more coaches and referees of the female game, developing something that everyone wants to be a part of.
From the community to the professional game, we have one shared goal of being the best rugby nation in the world.
With the measures we have put in place, we believe we can succeed. We will all be supporting the Red Roses in their bid to retain the World Cup title come August next year, and inspire future England stars.
It really is an exciting time for women’s rugby, not just in this country but globally, and by introducing this change we believe we can inspire more women and girls to pick up a ball and get behind the Red Roses.