Ahead of the Red Roses’ campaign in New Zealand,
a panel of experts gathered to discuss their hopes
and dreams for the future of the sport they love
Paid for by
Telegraph Media Group Creative Director: Jonathan Clayton-Jones, Picture Editor: Alex Kelly,
Commissioning Editor: Jim Bruce-Ball, Words: Nick Heath,
Sub Editor: Tim Cumming,
Project Manager: Emma Simpson, Web Editor: Katherine Scott
Image credits: Getty
How England can achieve its goal of
100,000 women playing rugby by 2027
Nick Heath (NH): It is such an exciting time for women’s rugby, isn’t it? Why does this year feel a bit different?
Maggie Alphonsi (MA): Absolutely. It’s becoming more professional, and you feel like there’s more investment across the board, from sponsorship to national governing bodies. The Lionesses did really well this summer by winning the Euros and now it’s the turn of women’s rugby to be in the spotlight and for the Red Roses to show what they can do.
UK RUGBY
Honda (England Rugby’s Performance Partner) is inspiring future generations to play rugby and grow the women’s game.
The creation of the Telegraph Honda Rugby Legacy Fund, will help grassroots clubs across the country achieve their ambitions.
For more information, visit tgr.ph/legacyfund
Rebecca Adamson (RA): Rugby clubs provide a community not just for their players, but supporters and volunteers too. It is great for girls to have an additional support network outside of school where they are part of a team, learning key life skills such as sportsmanship, winning humbly and losing graciously.
Being part of a rugby team means more than being active, it is about being part of an inclusive community and belonging.
NH: The latest action plan shows a target of 100,000 women and girls players to be playing rugby in England by 2027. How have you seen the girls’ game grow over the past 10 to 20 years?
MA: There’s been an increase in participation. We are seeing more girls and women play the sport, but I think the biggest change is that I’m seeing more men’s clubs starting up a girls’ side. You’re also starting to see girls play touch rugby or tag rugby at school or after school.
Also, the coverage of the women’s and girls’ game is improving so young girls are able to see their role models more often.
RB: 20 years ago I was 16. I didn’t even know about the England women’s team; I didn’t understand who they were. Yet just three years later, I was going to a World Cup with them. That, in a nutshell, highlights where the game has gone, given how well we know them now. I also think the biggest thing is the acceptance of women and girls playing rugby. There’s still a long way to go but we are normalising women and girls in the game and that’s phenomenal.
RA: It is great to see how the sport has grown and it is a very exciting time for the girl’s game. As Maggie mentioned, the Roses are role models for young girls, inspiring them to realise their own potential.
At Honda we strive to improve people’s lives through the Power of Dreams, and that same challenging spirit can be found in abundance at rugby clubs up and down the country. We are proud to be creating the Legacy Fund with The Telegraph to support rugby clubs across England, enabling them to do just that.
NH: Why do you each think rugby is good sport for girls to take up?
MA: I think it’s about freedom. When I took up the sport, regardless of my size or my stature, it allowed me to show my strength and my ability. It really allowed me to find my confidence. And I think that’s so big for many girls and teenagers.
Rachael Burford (RB): It’s important off the pitch too. You can go to a rugby club and suddenly find that you’re bossing people around in your team, getting the best out of your teammates. You take that into your education and then into your business life and suddenly you’re a CEO somewhere because you’ve learned those skills.
I think it’s so important that our young girls have somewhere where they can be themselves, where they can express themselves without judgment in sport to then flourish in their everyday life as well. I think that’s what rugby can give you.
400
Number of RFU registered women’s clubs in the UK
Number of RFU registered female players in the UK
40,000
Target for number of registered female players in the UK by 2027
100,000
NH: What needs to be addressed most urgently to help grow the women’s game? I’m thinking about things like a women’s senior team not being allowed to play on the first team pitch or women not having their own changing rooms…
RB: It really bugs me that you can go into a school and boys are allowed to play rugby, but the girls aren’t even offered the opportunity. That’s not okay. How do we make it more accessible? How can we create greater ways to pull people in? If we understand what their triggers were to get them into the game, what made them stay, then we can use that to recruit more.
MA: We need to grow the leadership so we have more visible women. I find it amazing that in the Premier 15s, we’ve just two or three female head coaches. How can we get more?
NH: So the Telegraph Honda Legacy Fund competition has been created for grassroots girls’ or women’s clubs to enter. They will have 300 words to write a compelling case as to why they deserve to win. Three clubs will receive £2,000 and another 12 will receive £1,000. All chosen by our good selves and Fiona Tomas, women’s rugby correspondent at The Telegraph. So what can it do for clubs?
RA: We recognise that as Women & Girl’s Rugby grows in England, there will be clubs who want to support more teams but don’t have the facilities, coaches or equipment that is required and so we are excited to be able to provide an opportunity for these clubs to enhance or start their own Women’s & Girl’s teams. Our aim as a partner in rugby is to make the sport more accessible and we really feel that this additional funding will help the clubs to do just that.
RB: This is an opportunity to receive some financial support, which could be used for training, education or individual support. It could be used to reimburse struggling players with the travel costs of getting to training. It could be used to help a club host an event, a recruitment day or something super accessible. The opportunity is big and I don’t know of many grants that are given direct to women’s and girls’ rugby.
World RUGBY
Current number of female rugby players globally
2.7 million
Increase in registered players globally since 2017
28%
A third of representatives on the World Rugby Council are now female
33%
NH: In the wider context of making improvements, what is the age range that we think is the most crucial to address right now as far as growing the game?
RB: I would probably suggest that it’s the teenage years, isn’t it? It’s the age where things start to get a bit more challenging for young girls in society and social media plays a big part in that. Between the ages of around 14 to 16, that’s often where we see young girls dropping out of sport. If we can look after that age group, then you get girls set for life playing in that sport.
MA: I’d echo that. But I would love to see us target an age before they even get to that point; being proactive rather than reactive. I’d love to see more work done at the primary school age.
If they can find the love of the sport at that point, they will want to progress and stay in it. I think what makes me quite sad is that we wait until they hit the teenage period and then we try and challenge them to get into rugby. By that point they’ve often decided whether they like sport or not.
NH: Rachael, is it better for girls’ clubs to be formed as offshoots of pre-existing men's and boys’ clubs from what you've seen through Girls Rugby Club or is being independent a better way to go?
RB: That’s a really interesting question. We want to make sure that there are no barriers and that the resources are there. So, developing girls clubs where there are facilities already makes sense. If it’s a good ‘whole rugby’ environment, then it can really work.
That's the challenge to clubs. How supportive are you of your women and girls teams to make them feel like they fit in and are welcome in the club? There are a lot of questions to be asked there.
I have heard of some people setting up just a girls only rugby club. That would be a blank canvas on what a rugby club could look like and how appealing it could be. I grew up in a mixed club but who knows? Maybe there is a future in a girls only rugby club.
MA: I’d buy into the one club approach. I truly believe we should grow the infrastructure that we've currently got right now, so turning our clubs to be very much inclusive. I want to see men, women, girls, boys, LGBTQ+, etc be part of one club. I also buy into other sports joining a club, like the way Bristol Sport has football, rugby, basketball, etc all together.
The fear I have if we go stand alone is, are we diluting what we've already got? Does it take away from the good work that's already gone in to try and grow more women and girls’ setups in existing men's clubs?
I think it's really important that clubs do grow women and girls sections at their club, invest in them, support them and include them in their conversations. I just love being at a club on a Sunday, just seeing everyone there, and really feeling part of a community.
NH: What is the Girls Rugby Club then Rachael?
RB: It’s an initiative designed to create more opportunities for girls and at the same time, give them some magical, wonderful memories. That is what you need for them to keep coming back to rugby.
Maggie, you’ll attest to this over your playing career. You could play for your county, you could be in a team playing at a festival – you can end up playing with so many different people from around the country - but sometimes girls don’t get exposed to the other clubs that are in the area.
So, the idea is to bring different girls from different clubs together to create some fun memories for them. Our little twist is that we also try to work on some off-pitch development with them as well. We could be talking about their communication skills, leadership qualities, their nutrition, that kind of thing. Because nobody teaches you this sort of stuff!
If we can start that progression and give people the tools early then, we can show them that whatever it teaches them to do on a rugby field they can also do in life.
MA: The opportunity Rachael has created for girls to be seeing each other from other clubs means you see yourself, you see other people like you taking part and really believe in the growth of the sport.
Girls might come and enjoy an event, festival or tournament but then they leave. The hardest bit is how we keep them in the sport. What Rachael has created is really positive because hopefully they will make connections, find people similar to them and have wonderful memories. That’s what keeps them in the game.
Maggie Alphonsi in action during her England playing days
Rachael Burford says rugby clubs provide an environment where girls are free to be themselves
The RFU aim to grow the number of female registered players from 40,000 to 100,000 by 2027
Rachael Burford in England colours
Rachael Burford in action for England against Wales
Rachael Burford pictured at one of her Girls Rugby Club training camps
Maggie Alphonsi
Nick Heath
Rachael Burford
Rebecca Adamson
Former England and Saracens flanker, Telegraph columnist and TV expert
International TV commentator and reporter
England and Harlequins centre, founder of Girls Rugby Club
Head of automobile, Honda (UK)
Rachael Burford in action for England against Wales
Rachael Burford pictured at one of her Girls Rugby Club training camps
