Women's rugby union
Encyclopedia
Women's rugby union
is a sport identical to the men's game with the same rules, same sized pitch, and same equipment. However, it has a history which is significantly different, due to various social pressures, and the self-image of rugby union in general. As a result, this history has been largely hidden until comparatively recently, although the game is gaining a higher profile thanks to international tournaments and financial investment.
in Enniskillen, Ireland. Emily Valentine's brothers were responsible for the formation of the school's first rugby team in c1884. Emily practised with the team and in c1887 she played for the school, scoring a try.
The first documented evidence of an attempt to form a purely women's team is from 1891 when a tour of New Zealand by a team of female rugby players was cancelled due to a public outcry.
A series of sporting cigarette cards published in France in 1895 included an image of a woman playing rugby or possibly barette
(see right)—but without any indication as to whether this was just a cartoon or an illustration of an actual event. There are also early reports of women’s rugby union being played in France (1903) and England (1913) but in both cases the game was largely behind closed doors.
During the First World War some women's charity games were organised, the most well documented taking place at Cardiff Arms Park on 16 December 1917, when Cardiff Ladies beat Newport Ladies 6–0. Maria Eley played full-back for Cardiff and went on to become probably the oldest women's rugby player before she died in Cardiff in 2007 at the age of 106. Interestingly the Cardiff team (who all worked for Hancocks a local brewery) all wore protective headgear, which predates their male counterparts by some decades.
In Sydney in 1921 two women's teams played a game of rugby league in front a crowd of 30,000—a photograph appeared in The Times in 1922—but pressure from authorities ensured that they did not play again. Throughout the 1920s a popular form of women's rugby called "barette
" was played across France—a version of rugby with only minor differences to the full game (games were 10-a-side and had some minor restrictions on tackling). There were national championships and film also exists of a game being played in 1928. Both barette and the full game of rugby featured in several newspaper cartoons and many photographs exist. For reasons unknown the game appears to fade away in the 1930s.
In 1930 a women's league playing the full game was formed in Australia, in the New South Wales areas of Tamworth and Armidale, which ran until halted by World War Two. Photographs of women's teams also exist from New Zealand from the same period and during the war Maori women took up the game. After the war in 1956 The Belles of St Mary’s—an Australian women's rugby league team—played games in New South Wales—but even as late as the 1960s Women's rugby was banned in Samoa.
The 1960s was the decade in which the game finally began to put down roots, initially in the universities of Western Europe. In 1962 the first recorded UK women's rugby union team appears at Edinburgh University, in 1963 female students participate in matches against male students in London, and in 1965 university sides are being formed in France.
As the pioneering students left university an adult game began to evolve. Initially (1966) this tended to be confined to charity matches between male and female teams (especially at Worthing RFC
, England), though the UK's Daily Herald newspaper includes photographs of girls' teams training in Thornhill
, near Dewsbury
in Yorkshire in 1965, and at Tadley
in Hampshire
in 1966—and appealing for fixtures. It is not recorded whether these teams did arrange any games, and so it is not until 1 May 1968 that the first fully documented and recorded women's club match takes place, in France, at Toulouse Fémina Sports in front of "thousands of spectators". The success of the event lead to the formation of the first national association for women's rugby union—the Association Francaise de Rugby Feminin (AFRF) at Toulouse, in 1970.
1970 also saw the first reports of women's rugby union in Canada, and by 1972 four universities in the USA were playing the game: University of Colorado
, Colorado State University
, the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri
. By 1975 university students at Wageningen
in the Netherlands were playing, and in the same year clubs appeared in Spain (Arquitectura in Madrid
and Osas in Barcelona
). The first non-university clubs formed in 1978 in Canada and Netherlands, and in Italy (Milan
) a year later.
By 1980 there were club championships in USA and Sweden, and provincial championships in New Zealand. The game first appeared in Japan in 1981 and in February 1982 University College, London's women's team went on a tour to France playing, amongst other teams, Pontoise—the first recorded overseas tour by a UK team (and possibly the first international tour by any team). A few months later on 13 June 1982 the first women's international—Netherlands 0, France 4—took place at Utrecht (see Women's international rugby union
for more details on the history of the international game).
In the UK 1983 saw the Women’s Rugby Football Union (WRFU) formed to govern the game across the British Isles. Founder member clubs are: Leicester Polytechnic, Sheffield University, University College London, University of Keele, Warwick University, Imperial College, Leeds University, Magor Maidens, York University and Loughborough University.
The game began to be organised on a more formal basis elsewhere, including:
1990 also saw the first international tournament—RugbyFest
held in Christchurch, New Zealand. As well as a variety of club sides, including teams from Japan (but not the Japanese national team), were four "national" teams—USA, New Zealand, USSR, and the Netherlands—who played a round-robin tournament. The winner was New Zealand, who then played—and beat—a combined "World XV".
, which took place in Wales the following year. Timed to coincide with the second men's world cup being held in England it did not meet with official approval from the IRB, a decision which threatened the competition and was a factor in the New Zealand RFU not supporting their entry. However, this did not stop the New Zealanders from taking part—nor Wales, USA, England, France, Canada, Sweden, USSR, Japan, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands.
The competition was run on a shoestring. Russian players sold souvenirs before and during matches to raise funds to cover their expenses, while four England administrators re-mortgaged their houses to cover the expenses of attending the competition. But after fifteen matches the first world champions were crowned—the USA, who beat England in the final. Despite the lack of support from the men's game, and very little media coverage, the competition had been a success, and the women's game continued to grow.
A second world cup was awarded to the Netherlands—but constant prevarication by the IRB about whether they would (or would not) give the tournament official status caused huge problems for the hosts. Without IRB support there was a fear that many unions would not send teams which would threaten the tournament (and even the Dutch union's) viability. In fact the IRB went so far as to threaten sanctions against any unions did take part—thus ensuring that New Zealand, Sweden and Germany withdrew. Faced with this the risk of major losses was as too great and the Dutch withdrew both as hosts and participants with barely weeks to go.
It was Scotland who stepped in to save the event with only 90 days to organise it. The second world cup
was in the end a purely northern hemisphere affair with 11 remaining teams (consisting of the four home nations, France, USA, Japan, Sweden, Russia, Canada and Kazakhstan) joined by a Scottish Students XV. The final was a repeat of 1991, but with this time England overcoming the USA 38–23, the final being played at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh. Despite everything, the tournament had been a success and the game continued to grow.
In 1996 the IRB
established a Women's Advisory Committee who produced a five year development plan for the game. One of its main targets was a 100% increase in player numbers by 2001. Elsewhere in the world...
But this is unusual. Women's teams are now being accepted on the main stage. In 2002 Scotland play their first women’s match at Murrayfield and in 2003 England stage the first women’s international at Twickenham.
In 2006 the RFU devoted the rugby museum's main annual exhibition to the history of women's rugby—"Women's Rugby—A Work in Progress", and the same year sees Women's Rugby World Cup broadcast live on the Internet.
The game remains an amateur, minority sport—but a fast growing one played in over 80 countries worldwide. Cost and player numbers mean that in many of these nations sevens tends to dominate, but 15-a-side championships have now been established in all regions.
has been dominated by New Zealand, with either the New Zealand team (1999–2001) or the Aotearoa Maori team (playing as New Zealand) winning the annual Hong Kong Sevens tournament from 1997 until 2007. The United States won the Hong Kong Sevens in 2008 by defeating Canada in the final (New Zealand failed to send a team).
The inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament took place in Dubai together with the men’s tournament during the first weekend of March 2009. England defeated Canada 12–0 in the Bowl final while Australia edged New Zealand 15–10 in extra-time to become the first to win the Women's Rugby World Cup.
Women's rugby sevens was included in the IRB's successful bid to reintroduce rugby to the Olympics in 2016. It is also bidding for inclusion in the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
is a sport identical to the men's game with the same rules, same sized pitch, and same equipment. However, it has a history which is significantly different, due to various social pressures, and the self-image of rugby union in general. As a result, this history has been largely hidden until comparatively recently, although the game is gaining a higher profile thanks to international tournaments and financial investment.
The first 100 years of Women's rugby union 1884–1990
The secretive nature of the early years of women’s rugby union ensures that we do not really know where it began. It appears that some girls may have played the game as part of their school teams in the 19th century—the earliest record of any female playing rugby at any level has been traced to Portora Royal SchoolPortora Royal School
Portora Royal School for boys, and some 6th form girls, located in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, is one of a number of 'free schools' founded by Royal Charter in 1608, by James I...
in Enniskillen, Ireland. Emily Valentine's brothers were responsible for the formation of the school's first rugby team in c1884. Emily practised with the team and in c1887 she played for the school, scoring a try.
The first documented evidence of an attempt to form a purely women's team is from 1891 when a tour of New Zealand by a team of female rugby players was cancelled due to a public outcry.
A series of sporting cigarette cards published in France in 1895 included an image of a woman playing rugby or possibly barette
Barette (sport)
Barette, Barrette or Barrette Acquitaine was a form of football, originating in the south-west of France. Very similar in outward appearance to rugby union, it was codified in the 1880s and evolved into a popular women's team sport in the 1920s before disappearing shortly before the Second World...
(see right)—but without any indication as to whether this was just a cartoon or an illustration of an actual event. There are also early reports of women’s rugby union being played in France (1903) and England (1913) but in both cases the game was largely behind closed doors.
During the First World War some women's charity games were organised, the most well documented taking place at Cardiff Arms Park on 16 December 1917, when Cardiff Ladies beat Newport Ladies 6–0. Maria Eley played full-back for Cardiff and went on to become probably the oldest women's rugby player before she died in Cardiff in 2007 at the age of 106. Interestingly the Cardiff team (who all worked for Hancocks a local brewery) all wore protective headgear, which predates their male counterparts by some decades.
Barette (sport)
Barette, Barrette or Barrette Acquitaine was a form of football, originating in the south-west of France. Very similar in outward appearance to rugby union, it was codified in the 1880s and evolved into a popular women's team sport in the 1920s before disappearing shortly before the Second World...
" was played across France—a version of rugby with only minor differences to the full game (games were 10-a-side and had some minor restrictions on tackling). There were national championships and film also exists of a game being played in 1928. Both barette and the full game of rugby featured in several newspaper cartoons and many photographs exist. For reasons unknown the game appears to fade away in the 1930s.
In 1930 a women's league playing the full game was formed in Australia, in the New South Wales areas of Tamworth and Armidale, which ran until halted by World War Two. Photographs of women's teams also exist from New Zealand from the same period and during the war Maori women took up the game. After the war in 1956 The Belles of St Mary’s—an Australian women's rugby league team—played games in New South Wales—but even as late as the 1960s Women's rugby was banned in Samoa.
The 1960s was the decade in which the game finally began to put down roots, initially in the universities of Western Europe. In 1962 the first recorded UK women's rugby union team appears at Edinburgh University, in 1963 female students participate in matches against male students in London, and in 1965 university sides are being formed in France.
As the pioneering students left university an adult game began to evolve. Initially (1966) this tended to be confined to charity matches between male and female teams (especially at Worthing RFC
Worthing Rugby Football Club
Worthing Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team. The first XV, nicknamed the Worthing Raiders currently plays in National Division Two South, the fourth tier of English rugby union competition...
, England), though the UK's Daily Herald newspaper includes photographs of girls' teams training in Thornhill
Thornhill, West Yorkshire
Thornhill, is a village in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. Thornhill was absorbed into Dewsbury County Borough in 1910. It is located on a hill on the south side of the River Calder, and has extensive views of Dewsbury, Ossett and Wakefield...
, near Dewsbury
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...
in Yorkshire in 1965, and at Tadley
Tadley
Tadley is a town and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire.During the 1950s and 1960s, the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment , now known as AWE, became the area's largest employer, and a large number of houses were built during this period to accommodate AWRE workers...
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
in 1966—and appealing for fixtures. It is not recorded whether these teams did arrange any games, and so it is not until 1 May 1968 that the first fully documented and recorded women's club match takes place, in France, at Toulouse Fémina Sports in front of "thousands of spectators". The success of the event lead to the formation of the first national association for women's rugby union—the Association Francaise de Rugby Feminin (AFRF) at Toulouse, in 1970.
1970 also saw the first reports of women's rugby union in Canada, and by 1972 four universities in the USA were playing the game: University of Colorado
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
, Colorado State University
Colorado State University
Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...
, the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
. By 1975 university students at Wageningen
Wageningen
' is a municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specializes in life sciences. The city has 37,414 inhabitants , of which many thousands are students...
in the Netherlands were playing, and in the same year clubs appeared in Spain (Arquitectura in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Osas in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
). The first non-university clubs formed in 1978 in Canada and Netherlands, and in Italy (Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
) a year later.
By 1980 there were club championships in USA and Sweden, and provincial championships in New Zealand. The game first appeared in Japan in 1981 and in February 1982 University College, London's women's team went on a tour to France playing, amongst other teams, Pontoise—the first recorded overseas tour by a UK team (and possibly the first international tour by any team). A few months later on 13 June 1982 the first women's international—Netherlands 0, France 4—took place at Utrecht (see Women's international rugby union
Women's international rugby union
Women's rugby union has a history going back to the late 19th century but it was not until 1982 that the first international fixture took place. The match was organised in connection with the Dutch Rugby Union's 50th anniversary...
for more details on the history of the international game).
In the UK 1983 saw the Women’s Rugby Football Union (WRFU) formed to govern the game across the British Isles. Founder member clubs are: Leicester Polytechnic, Sheffield University, University College London, University of Keele, Warwick University, Imperial College, Leeds University, Magor Maidens, York University and Loughborough University.
The game began to be organised on a more formal basis elsewhere, including:
- 1984 The LNRF (Lega Nazionale Rugby Feminile) formed in Italy
- 1986 First UK National League and Cup competitions established
- 1987 Canadian women's rugby board established
- 1988 Japanese Women’s Rugby Football Union formed
- 1988 Women's International Rugby Board (WIRB) formed.
- 1989 Women's rugby union began to be organized in the USSR
- 1989 ARFR is formally integrated into the Federation Francaise de Rugby (FFR), and
- 1990 First Irish club teams formed
- 1990 The USA become the "Eagles" and play officially for USA Rugby for the first time
1990 also saw the first international tournament—RugbyFest
RugbyFest 1990
RugbyFest 1990 was a two-week festival of women's rugby, held in Christchurch, New Zealand between 19 August and 1 September 1990. The event has been inflated sometimes to the status of a mini-world cup. In reality with only four teams taking part, and lacking major nations such as France, England...
held in Christchurch, New Zealand. As well as a variety of club sides, including teams from Japan (but not the Japanese national team), were four "national" teams—USA, New Zealand, USSR, and the Netherlands—who played a round-robin tournament. The winner was New Zealand, who then played—and beat—a combined "World XV".
A world game in the making—1990–1998
Rugbyfest pointed the way to the next big leap forward—the first women's rugby world cup1991 Women's Rugby World Cup
The 1991 Women's Rugby World Cup was the first Women's Rugby World Cup. The tournament was not approved by the International Rugby Board , yet it still went ahead despite the disapproval of the sports governing body—France only confirmed their participation minutes before the draw was made on...
, which took place in Wales the following year. Timed to coincide with the second men's world cup being held in England it did not meet with official approval from the IRB, a decision which threatened the competition and was a factor in the New Zealand RFU not supporting their entry. However, this did not stop the New Zealanders from taking part—nor Wales, USA, England, France, Canada, Sweden, USSR, Japan, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands.
The competition was run on a shoestring. Russian players sold souvenirs before and during matches to raise funds to cover their expenses, while four England administrators re-mortgaged their houses to cover the expenses of attending the competition. But after fifteen matches the first world champions were crowned—the USA, who beat England in the final. Despite the lack of support from the men's game, and very little media coverage, the competition had been a success, and the women's game continued to grow.
- 1991 Netherlands Rugby Union take control of the women’s game
- 1991 Women’s rugby revived in Australia by Wal Fitzgerald in Newcastle, New South Wales
- 1992 Irish women split from the WRFU to form their own Irish Women’s Rugby Football Union
- 1992 The New Zealand women are taken under the umbrella of the NZRFU
- 1993 Scottish women split from the WRFU to be governed by their own Union (the Scottish Women’s Rugby Union).
- 1993 Australian Women’s Rugby Union formed
- 1994 The WRFU disband. The Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW) is formed in England, while the Welsh Women’s Rugby Union affiliates with the Welsh Rugby Union.
A second world cup was awarded to the Netherlands—but constant prevarication by the IRB about whether they would (or would not) give the tournament official status caused huge problems for the hosts. Without IRB support there was a fear that many unions would not send teams which would threaten the tournament (and even the Dutch union's) viability. In fact the IRB went so far as to threaten sanctions against any unions did take part—thus ensuring that New Zealand, Sweden and Germany withdrew. Faced with this the risk of major losses was as too great and the Dutch withdrew both as hosts and participants with barely weeks to go.
It was Scotland who stepped in to save the event with only 90 days to organise it. The second world cup
1994 Women's Rugby World Cup
The 1994 Women's Rugby World Cup was the second world cup for women. It was originally scheduled to be held in the Amsterdam, Netherlands but was cancelled only weeks before...
was in the end a purely northern hemisphere affair with 11 remaining teams (consisting of the four home nations, France, USA, Japan, Sweden, Russia, Canada and Kazakhstan) joined by a Scottish Students XV. The final was a repeat of 1991, but with this time England overcoming the USA 38–23, the final being played at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh. Despite everything, the tournament had been a success and the game continued to grow.
In 1996 the IRB
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
established a Women's Advisory Committee who produced a five year development plan for the game. One of its main targets was a 100% increase in player numbers by 2001. Elsewhere in the world...
- 1996 First Home Nations competition held between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Won by England.
- 1997 First Hong Kong Sevens tournament for women
- 1998 New Zealand drop the nickname "Gal Blacks" to become the "Black FernsBlack FernsThe Black Ferns is New Zealand's national women's rugby union team.- The name :The name comes from the use of the colour black and the silver fern as New Zealand sporting symbols...
"—the female version of the "silver fern" used by the male team. - 1998 The 1998 version1998 Women's Rugby World CupThe 1998 Women's Rugby World Cup was the first world cup fully sanctioned by the International Rugby Board and the third world cup in history. The tournament took place in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands and was the first women's world cup held outside of the United Kingdom.The tournament saw a...
of the Women's Rugby World CupWomen's Rugby World CupThe Women's Rugby World Cup is the premier international competition in rugby union for women. The tournament is organised by the sport's governing body the International Rugby Board...
is the first to be fully sanctioned by the International Rugby BoardInternational Rugby BoardThe International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
.
Acceptance and growth: 1998–
Widespread acceptance of the game leads to women's versions of other major rugby union tournaments (the women's Five Nations begins in 1999), and growing numbers of headlines. In 2000 the Irish WRFU affiliate fully with the IRFU—but there were still set-backs. In 2002 the Australian RFU dropped support for women's team's entry to world cup. The decision was seen as a factor in IOC rejection of rugby as an Olympic sport and was reversed two years later.But this is unusual. Women's teams are now being accepted on the main stage. In 2002 Scotland play their first women’s match at Murrayfield and in 2003 England stage the first women’s international at Twickenham.
In 2006 the RFU devoted the rugby museum's main annual exhibition to the history of women's rugby—"Women's Rugby—A Work in Progress", and the same year sees Women's Rugby World Cup broadcast live on the Internet.
The game remains an amateur, minority sport—but a fast growing one played in over 80 countries worldwide. Cost and player numbers mean that in many of these nations sevens tends to dominate, but 15-a-side championships have now been established in all regions.
- 1999 Irish WRFU affiliate fully with the IRFU
- 1999 The Women's Home Nations Championship becomes the Women's Five Nations with the addition of France.
- 2000 South African women affiliate with South African Rugby Football Union.
- 2000 The addition of Spain establishes the Women's Six Nations.
- 2002 Australian RFU drops support for women's team's entry to world cup. Decision seen as a factor in IOC rejection of rugby as an Olympic sport. Reversed two years later.
- 2004 Wales restrict national team selections to players from Welsh teams. Slump in performance significant factor in rejection of entry for 2006 world cup. Decision reversed in time for 2006 Six Nations.
- 2005 Canada controversially selected as hosts for 2006 World cup—despite major bid from England. Believed that selection was part of an IRB policy to host tournaments outside of Europe.
- 2005 Ugandan women form Uganda Women's Rugby Association (UWRA) and affiliate to the Uganda Rugby Union (URU).
- 2006 Major exhibition on history of women's rugby—"Women's Rugby—A Work in Progress" held at Twickenham
- 2006 The inaugural Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) women's 7's. Uganda are the hosts and lose to South Africa in the final.
- 2006 New Zealand's Black Ferns defeat England in the IRB's Rugby World Cup Women's Final in Canada.
- 2007 Donna Kennedy becomes Scotland's most-capped player and the World's most-capped female player with 100 caps. Her last game a narrow defeat to France. This record has now been overtaken by Louise Rickard of Wales, who equalled Kennedy's record in the 2008 6 Nations.
- 2007 Welsh Women's Rugby Union merges with the Welsh Rugby Union.
- 2007 The Women's Six Nations is formally adopted by the men's Six NationsSix Nations ChampionshipThe Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
organisation; as a result, Spain are replaced by Italy. - 2007 Third Caribbean Championship in the Cayman Islands are cancelled less than 48 hours before they are due to start due to Hurricane Dean
- 2009 Australia take the title at the inaugural IRB Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai, which was fully integrated into the men's competition. Australia beat New Zealand after extra time in the final. Tournament favourites England go out in the quarter-finals.
- 2009 Wales defeat England for the first time in the 22-year history of the fixture, bringing to an end England's quest for a fourth consecutive 6 Nations Grand Slam.
- 2009 England's women's rugby governing body, the RFUW, establish a mirror to the existing boys' AASE (Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence) programme at Hartpury College, Gloucestershire and Moulton College, Northamptonshire. AASE programmes are offered at RFU Academies at Guinness Premiership clubs across England. For the programme to be made available to girls is a landmark.
- 2009 A record number of countries bid to host the 2014 Women's World Cup
- 2009 In June, Scottish Women's Rugby Union merges with the Scottish Rugby Union.
- 2010 Crowd of 13,253—a world record for a women's match—watches the World Cup final at Twickenham Stoop.
- 2011 The first IRB-sponsored women's sevens event apart from the World Cup Sevens, the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup, will be held in Dubai as part of the 2011 Dubai Sevens.
- 2012 The IRB plans to launch the IRB International Women's Sevens Series, analogous to the men's IRB Sevens World SeriesIRB Sevens World SeriesThe IRB Sevens World Series, known officially as the HSBC Sevens World Series as of the 2010-11 season, through sponsorship from banking group HSBC, and also sometimes called the World Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby union sevens tournaments organised for the first time in the...
. - 2016 The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio will include men's and women's rugby sevens—with the women's tournament being given absolute equality with the men's in terms of both player and team numbers.
Women's rugby sevens
Women's rugby sevensRugby sevens
Rugby sevens, also known as seven-a-side or VIIs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players, instead of the usual 15, with shorter matches. Rugby sevens is administered by the International Rugby Board , the body responsible for rugby union worldwide...
has been dominated by New Zealand, with either the New Zealand team (1999–2001) or the Aotearoa Maori team (playing as New Zealand) winning the annual Hong Kong Sevens tournament from 1997 until 2007. The United States won the Hong Kong Sevens in 2008 by defeating Canada in the final (New Zealand failed to send a team).
The inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament took place in Dubai together with the men’s tournament during the first weekend of March 2009. England defeated Canada 12–0 in the Bowl final while Australia edged New Zealand 15–10 in extra-time to become the first to win the Women's Rugby World Cup.
Women's rugby sevens was included in the IRB's successful bid to reintroduce rugby to the Olympics in 2016. It is also bidding for inclusion in the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
See also
- Canada CupCanada Cup (rugby)The Canada Cup for women's rugby union is the title of an international rugby tournament staged in Canada. The tournament generally features Canada, and two or three other invited nations. So far there have been four tournaments - 1993, 1996, 2000, and 2005...
- Caribbean Women’s Rugby ChampionshipCaribbean Women’s Rugby ChampionshipThe NAWIRA Caribbean Women’s 15-a-side Rugby Championship, to give the competition its full title, was a small tournament run by the IRB through NAWIRA - the North America and West Indies Rugby Association...
- FIRA Women's European ChampionshipFIRA Women's European ChampionshipFIRA's Women's European Championship is an international rugby union competition contested between women's national teams who are members of FIRA - Association of European Rugby...
- Women's international rugby unionWomen's international rugby unionWomen's rugby union has a history going back to the late 19th century but it was not until 1982 that the first international fixture took place. The match was organised in connection with the Dutch Rugby Union's 50th anniversary...
- Pacific Tri-NationsWomen's Pacific Tri-NationsThe Women's Pacific Tri-Nations tournament was played for the first time, and this far only, time at Teufaiva Park, Nuku’alofa, Tonga, in April 2006....
- Women's Six Nations ChampionshipWomen's Six Nations ChampionshipThe Women's Six Nations Championship is an international rugby union competition contested between six European women's national teams. The competition began as a "Home International Championship" for the four home nations in 1996....
- Women's Rugby World CupWomen's Rugby World CupThe Women's Rugby World Cup is the premier international competition in rugby union for women. The tournament is organised by the sport's governing body the International Rugby Board...
- Women's International Rugby Union SevensWomen's International Rugby Union SevensRugby Union Sevens - a short form of the sport of rugby union - was first played in 1883, with the first internationals taking place in 1973...
Sources
- An exhibition on the history of women's rugby union, organised by the Museum of Rugby at TwickenhamTwickenham StadiumTwickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
in 2006. - The Timeline of Women's rugby
- The World Rugby Museum.
External links
- Women's rugby: a newspaper history Articles about women's rugby appearing in newspapers from 1922-date
- Rugbydata now includes all of results above for which a score is known making it the only rugby results website to record women's results on an equal basis to men's. Allows the user to investigate any aspect of any individual team's results.
- The rise and popularity of women's rugby in Canada, by John A O'Hanley (1998)