The Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 is well underway in England, with 16 teams travelling over to play at the highest level of women’s rugby over six weeks.
England are hosting this World Cup, which is the biggest celebration of women’s rugby that the sport has ever seen, blowing the previous numbers from the World Cup in 2021 out of the water.
However, countries must bid on the opportunity to host the World Cup - an incredible occasion to push real change and development in their country and further. England have hosted once before, back in 2010, so why were they chosen to host in 2025?
The short answer? They’re world leaders. As well as the English rugby team the Red Roses being world number ones, England’s sporting infrastructure and development schemes, such as their women’s rugby focused Impact 25, means that it is at the forefront of pushing the women’s game ever forward.
What is Impact 25?
Impact 25 is a scheme run by the Rugby and Football Union (RFU) in conjunction with the UK Government, Sport England and UK Sport.
Its aim is simple: to accelerate the growth of women’s rugby, focused around having 100,000 female rugby players active in the UK by 2027 in line with their Every Rose campaign aims.
The scheme has run since the beginning of the 22/23 season and runs until March 2026 - or the end of the 25/26 season. Over this time, over £14.55 million of government funding has been invested throughout the country and home unions.
The RFU published the impact report of Impact 25’s third year just prior to the start of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, which included incredibly positive figures.
Thus far, more than 500 clubs, school and universities have been targeted in the third year alone, with a 35% increase in registered age grade girls playing the sport since the start of the program.
Importantly, this scheme has also run in tandem with the RFU’s Every Rose strategy, which is geared uniquely towards the women’s game and runs from 2021 to 2027.
The aims of this program, in addition to increasing female rugby players in England to 100,000 also include a sold-out Red Roses match at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham, the Red Roses attending two World Cups and for the women’s game to garner meaningful profit.
How will the RWC help develop women's rugby?
The Rugby Women’s World Cup 2025 has come at a perfect time for the completion of this aims, both harnessing the energy that these schemes have already created, and further developing and improving on these initiatives.
The World Cup made headlines earlier this month as ticket sales officially reached 375,000 - a 149% increase on the numbers from the 2021 World Cup. However, its initial impacts on the development of the sport go far further.
Two of the Every Rose aims will hopefully be completed during this World Cup, as the final has officially sold out - meaning that the Allianz Stadium will be boasting a huge 82,000 strong crowd.
If the Red Roses - who are on a 29 games in a row unbeaten streak at the moment - manage to reach the finals, it will be a momentous moment for the project.
In addition, all of the Red Roses matches have broken even or made money since the beginning of the year, and this trajectory seems to be only increasing. Almost all of the group matches have sold out, including a record number at the opening match in Sunderland, demonstrating that women’s rugby has become an incredibly lively and profitable sport.
What is happening during the Rugby World Cup?
The development of women’s rugby is built into the very fibre of the World Cup this year, from the logo right down to the locations chosen.
The emblem and graphics attached to all of the broadcast World Cup content was created by different female artists from each country, highlighting World Rugby’s awareness of this competition in the global stage.
In addition, the eight host cities - Brighton, Sunderland, York, Manchester, Exeter, Bristol, Northampton and London - were all chosen so that 95% of the population are within two hours of a match, drastically increasing the accessibility of the tournament.
Seven of these locations also have fan zones, from Battersea Power Station to Bristol Amphitheatre - dedicated areas with activities, watch parties, events and more to increase the buzz around the competition and make it even easier for women and girls to get involved.
Part of this is also harnessing the power of the players themselves. Different teams have been involved with different community activities, from the Red Roses playing in a Beach Rugby competition in Sunderland to France Rugby going dragon boating in Exeter.
These events, with the players actively engaging with the community, is sure to push the movement even further, and introduce young women and girls to role models that they can look up to as they forge the way for more opportunities in women’s rugby.
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