In recent years there has been large growth of the women’s rugby game. With more and more people getting involved in both playing and watching the sport it is now surging in popularity. According to the RFU, there are over 40,000 women and girls registered at 400 clubs across the UK. Globally, female participation levels are at an all-time high with 2.7 million players, meaning that women now make up over a quarter of the overall rugby playing population across the world. World Rugby states that there has been a 28% increase in registered players since 2017 and the RFU says they are seeing a 17% year on year increase in the UK.
Red Roses
World Rugby have increased the number of women’s teams competing at the world cup - 12 teams will play in New-Zealand for the 2021 world cup (played in 2022), and this number will continue to rise for the 2025 World Cup where 16 teams will compete. The women’s game is growing fast, and efforts are constantly being made by World Rugby and the RFU to facilitate this growth.
The RFU are leading the way in women’s rugby, the opportunities, training, and contracts that are being offered to English players are pioneering. The Red Roses, England’s women’s rugby team, were the first team in the world to be awarded fully professional contracts. In 2019 the RFU issued 28 fully professional contracts to the Red Roses. Since then, other teams have followed suit, with the WRU awarding 12 fully professional contracts this year and Scotland and Ireland are looking to award over 30 new semi-professional contracts each later this year.
Women’s rugby is very exciting at the moment especially for England fans. The Red Roses are currently ranked number 1 in the world with a large gap in points between them and New Zealand in second. In this year’s 6 nations the Red Roses were unbeaten winning the grand slam with a massive 260 points difference.
The Red Roses really are at the top of their game having not lost a match in 24 games, and English rugby fans should be looking forward to the upcoming TikTok Six Nations
Premier 15 Rugby
More and more rugby clubs across the UK are starting women’s teams as the Premier 15 (the top tier of the women's English rugby union domestic league) is growing and getting more attention than ever before. Most top clubs in the men’s premiership now also have a woman’s team with Leicester Tigers being the most recent top team to do so. Their new women’s team will be joining the championship north for the 2022/23 season.
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