All of those factors would be unthinkable for international teams travelling to a major tournament now, given the higher profile the women’s game enjoys. This even applies domestically – Harlequins’ meeting with Wasps on Dec 27 will be the first regular Premier 15s game to be played at Twickenham and shown live on BT Sport.
Like other female team sports, women’s rugby has also started to plug its own data gap in recent seasons. Match data and team statistics are becoming more commonplace, helping audiences to connect with the spectacle even more. Take this year’s Women’s Six Nations, where fan engagement went through the roof with the launch of the championship’s first fantasy league. If the game keeps progressing at this rate, the likes of England’s Poppy Cleall and Wales’ Jasmine Joyce have the potential to become household names at a home 2025 World Cup.
But for that to become a reality, the tournament has to be given the same level of respect that you would expect for a men’s World Cup. Fixtures and tickets must be released in good time and it will be crucial that organisers source the right sponsors who are genuinely interested in supporting women’s sport.
Staging games in suitable stadiums in traditional rugby union heartlands will also be key. We cannot have referees running over to the touchline looking at replays on a tiny TV screen, which has been an occurrence in women’s Test rugby. A reliable broadcast partner is a must. In 2010, fans had to be physically in attendance or watching on Sky Sports to see us on the pitch. Thanks to social media, players now have their own profiles and it is easier for commercial partners to spot them and sign them up as brand ambassadors.
The RFU can be confident in its bid because it has already done a lot of the logistical groundwork. In recent years, England women’s Tests have been tactfully spread around the country – from Sandy Park in Devon to Doncaster in South Yorkshire. This nomadic approach is designed to expose the women’s game to new audiences and you would expect a similar tactic to be deployed if the 2025 bid is successful.
The goal will hopefully be to try to fill Twickenham for the final and in doing so set a world record for the biggest crowd at a standalone women’s international. The RFU will be looking to hit targets in everything from attendance to media coverage and create a legacy that ensures the women’s game benefits from a major increase in participation. It would also inevitably lead to greater investment in the domestic product, too, with more teams in the Premier 15s likely to lean towards professionalism – but it is what could happen on the community scene where we could see the real snowball effect.
