England Women’s Rugby To Go Full-time
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has announced plans to award full-time professional playing contracts to all the women in the national 15-a-side squad.
The governing body of the game in England has confirmed that 28 female players will be offered full-time deals from January, in a move which the organisation says underlines its commitment to the long-term growth of the women’s game.
The decision, supported by the RFU board, follows the roll-out a major campaign focussed on growing grassroots women’s rugby, and signals a strategic U-turn after the organisation previously revealed plans to switch its women’s focus to Sevens, following England’s disappointing results at last year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup.
A number of the women’s 15s players were offered contracts to transfer to Sevens, which is funded as part of the sports programme of the Olympic Games.
The new 15s contracts will be supplemented by seven existing elite player squad (EPS) agreements. All 35 contracted England players will remain eligible to play for their clubs in the Tyrrells Premier 15s competition, returning to the RFU for England duties, the RFU has confimed.
Commenting on the decision, RFU chief executive Steve Brown said: “We are delighted to be able to offer full-time contracts to our 15s players.
“This has long been our ambition and demonstrates the RFU’s commitment to growing the women’s game and the belief we have in the future of the sport.
“We are at a tipping point for women’s rugby globally and it is our ambition to be world number one and drive growth at every level.
“As an organisation, from top to bottom, we are very much behind this and want to see the continued expansion and growth to realise the ambitious targets we have set ourselves.”
RFU director of professional rugby Nigel Melville added: “As a union we want to lead the way for driving standards in women’s rugby through everything we do.
“Full-time contracts are a big step in ensuring we have the access to players to develop them and fulfil their potential.
Under its women and girls strategy, the RFU plans to double the number of participants by 2021, increasing the number of women’s teams by more than 75% to 800 and getting more women involved in the sport as referees, coaches and volunteers.
