After the Red Roses made headlines across the globe by hoisting their third World Cup trophy, and their first on home turf, the RFU (Rugby Football Union) has announced a powerful five year plan to continue to capitalise on this attention and momentum.
'Every Rose: Our Time' plan
The RFU has promised to “keep its foot on the gas” with their new five year plan in the run up to the next Women’s Rugby World Cup, which will take place in Australia in 2029, two years after the Men’s World Cup also goes down under.
The plan, named ‘Every Rose: Our Time’, includes some ambitious goals, including making the Red Roses the first England team ever - male or female - to win back to back World Cup titles.
Alongside this performance-based goal are other markers of growth and improvement within the women’s game. The RFU wants to see 100,000 active female players by 2030, up from the current recognised number of 60,000.
This heightened presence and calibre will hopefully lead into the other aims set out, which includes Red Roses fans numbering 3 million, and the revenue women’s rugby doubling to £60 million, in order to allow for more grassroots investments.
The growth of women's rugby
Although these seem like grossly ambitious targets for growth, the recent Women’s Rugby World Cup has proven that anything is possible. 82,000 fans flooded into the Allianz Stadium for the final between England and Canada - an enormous, almost six fold increase from the last time that England hosted the World Cup back in 2010, when just over 13,000 attended the final.
Of the newly augmented crowd, a full half had never watched the game before, and yet when asked, a huge 95% said that they planned on returning. The incredible reach that the Women’s World Cup has had across the country is something incredibly exciting, especially in a sport which struggles with waning fan engagement. As Alex Teasdale, the Executive Director for the women’s game said, “the future of rugby depends on the women’s game”.
Teasdale went on to expand on the importance of the RFU having reaching objectives, as “the stakes have never been higher - the opportunity has never been greater, but sitting still is not an option because the wheels are now fully in motion”.
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