Biggest survey of women’s pathway aims to meet players’ needs
In the biggest ever survey of female pathway players it is clear that fundamental to players’ continuing progress and development is family and friendship, as well as expert coaching. The biggest challenges involve negative perceptions of female players, unequal opportunities, inappropriate kit and players’ menstrual cycle.
The RFU is collaborating with Swansea University to support PhD student, Kirsten Flower, as she studies barriers and enablers affecting progression in the women’s pathway.
Detailed information came from more than 1,300 players, coaches and stakeholders in the Red Roses, Premiership Women’s Rugby, Centres of Excellence and the Developing Player Programme.
The research, having covered significant ground, also brought strong recommendations including those on: coaching, governance, inclusion, sports science and medicine, competitions, the education sector, safeguarding and communications.
Headline findings
Initial findings from survey and interview data revealed that family involvement was as a huge positive, with initial and continued forms of financial, emotional, and coaching support from players’ parents making a big difference. As many as 90% of all respondents reported parental support as making their participation in rugby easier, with 60% of these stating it made their involvement much easier.
A sense of belonging had a major influence on initial and continued involvement in rugby, with participants citing the inclusivity, community and social side, and enjoyment of the game, as important.
Opportunities provided via the women’s and girl’s pathway in England was also ranked crucial to participation and progression, including development opportunities and access to qualified coaching and support staff, with 58% of respondents ranking the availability and quality of coaching as having made their participation easier, and 21% of these reporting it as making it much easier.
Challenges
Representation of female rugby players and access to equitable and competitive rugby opportunities were reported as barriers. Common stereotypes on social media and in wider society was a negative factor for 58% of respondents. This also included the narrative and perceptions of the menstrual cycle surrounding playing rugby and rugby kit not being designed for females posing many challenges.
Another frequently reported barrier was the lack of access to playing opportunities and local girls’ teams being unavailable or without the numbers for quality game time and competition, as well as the absence of suitable provisions or trained support staff at local clubs. Many players reported needing to travel to clubs able to provide a better offer. Consequently, 48% ranked time and 34% ranked cost as making it harder for them to participate.
Many had found a lack of playing opportunities at school made initial involvement difficult, with 54% ranking this as making their participation harder and 30% of these ranking it as having made it much harder. This continued at colleges and universities. Lack of access to competitive women’s rugby teams at colleges and universities, alongside not having a local club with a competitive offer and access to quality game time, and support staff was reported as a negative, while others enjoyed playing at a rugby college with good provision.
These barriers are particularly exacerbated for those in the North due to the comparative lack of college and universities offering high level rugby experiences, as well as the only top-flight Premiership team being Sale Sharks.
Inclusive, accessible, and meets players’ needs
Kirsten Flower said: “This is an incredibly exciting piece of work to be involved with and I’ve been really privileged to have had the opportunity to have spoken to and met many players in the women’s pathway. The aim is to ensure that the women’s pathway in England is as inclusive, accessible, and as reflective of players’ needs as possible.
“This research will ensure that conversations are started on pertinent areas of the game and resultant decisions are informed by empirical evidence from data on female players. The engagement thus far in this project from not only players, but from coaches, parents, support staff, fans of the game, and RFU staff has been fantastic.”
Don Barrell, Head of Performance Pathways and Programmes, said: “This project is tremendously important. The evidence being gathered by Kirsten’s excellent work means we can make informed decisions on behalf of our women and girls which will ultimately keep them developing their game and continuing to play rugby.”
