Ambitious IRB detail future path for women’s rugby

An excellent piece from YSC contributer John Birch. This was originally posted on Scrumqueens.com.

The IRB’s “Women’s Rugby Plan 2011-2016”, first announced in November, was finally published last week, writes John Birch.

The copiously illustrated 50 page report is the second official IRB five-year plan for the women’s game, and begins with successes – the news that women’s rugby is now played by 200,000 registered players (a 33% increase on player numbers when compared to numbers quoted in the 2006 report), that the game is played in 110 countries (out of 117 members and associates), and that game is now included in the 2016 Olympics, which had been the key aim back in 2006.

As a result of this success the 2011 plan is a very different document to 2006 – far more ambitious, it concentrates less on internal administrative strategies and far more on quantifiable targets and ensuring that 2016 will be a success.

Overall the report aims to double the number of registered women players by 2016 and (as a result of the Olympics) Sevens is identified as the main means of achieving this – the “global shop window” for women’s rugby. “It is imperative”, the report says, “that resources and investment are directed towards Women’s Sevens High Performance so that the product in the Olympic Games is of the highest possible quality.” For fifteens the aim is only to “consolidate the level of development [already] reached”, mainly through continued support for the Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Including the player target, there are 18 key performance targets, but also a great many other indicators in the report. Some are rather technical (though still important) – such as the inclusion of women’s rugby in IRB Training and Education Courses (a slight surprise, perhaps, as most readers would assume the women’s game would be included already) – but many are very public:

• Increasing registered player numbers to 400,000 by 2016

• All member unions to have a women’s programme by 2013

• An official international 15s competition calendar from 1012

• Women’s sevens world series in place by 2013

• Age grade Sevens tournaments in all regions

• Women’s rugby to be “indentified as a viable [commercial] product” by 2014

• Increasing broadcasting of women’s rugby, including TV and “new media”

• Official IRB Global rankings for women’s teams (15s and 7s) from 2012.

Outside of multi-sport competitions, where the commitment is to include a women’s event in all rugby tournaments, events like the Nations Cup are seen as a key way of building elite rugby – indeed the U20 version of the competition (currently run jointly by England, USA and Canada) is identified as a primary route to develop age grade international rugby “as demand increases”.

There are hints that the report could have teeth – on several occasions reviews of IRB Membership criteria are mentioned, especially in regard to the target of getting all Unions to start women’s programmes. There are plenty of carrots and assistance for such developments, but clearly the authors’ ultimate aim is that there should be a sizable stick to hand if all else fails. Research to develop commercial and marketing strategies is also called for, which might be used to overcome financial objections.

The report does not shy from the fact that the plans will have costs. At present the worldwide investment in women’s rugby is estimated at £7m per year, £5m of which comes from the budgets of individual unions. A significant (but unquantified) increase is expected – but the plan also sees that women’s rugby’s involvement the Olympics and Sevens World Series will greatly increase investment and sponsorship opportunities, as well as access to High Performance funding from National Olympic Committees.

Returning to the field of play, the report details how both the Sevens Series and Olympic qualification should work. The Series, from next season, will include at least four tournaments with 12 teams at each event. Though not detailed these will in the first year, presumably, be selected as at present with an eye on wordwide representation – but after the 2013 will be simply be the top 12 from the World Cup, after which that there will be an annual promotion and relegation.

As for the Olympics, half of the teams will be the various 2015 regional champions – but the other six teams will be selected via a worldwide qualification process so as to ensure the 12 teams in Rio really are the best 12 in the world. As a result in theory there might be only one European team in Rio… or there could be as many as seven!

The report concludes with a draft list of XVs tournaments for the next five years – the “competition model” – but here there are some surprises. An annual Asian XVs, as proposed, would be a step forward – but the already annual Caribbean XVs is missing, which is a potentially damaging oversight. There is also a total absence of any fifteens rugby for Australasia or the Pacific. For the region that contains the countries that finished first and third in 2010 it is very noticeable that even an occasional trans-Tasman tournament seems ruled out.

It may be long, detailed, and much is written between the lines – but overall the plan is both realistic and ambitious. If it hits its targets women’s rugby in 2016 could be noticeably different compared to the game we see today. Take a look for yourself – here.