Let us also now praise famous women

Sporting Halls of Fame have been a longstanding American tradition, but the past decade the concept has moved worldwide with national and international sporting bodies, approving or formally creating Halls of Fame to recognise and celebrate the heroes of their sports.

When the IRB opened the doors of its Hall of Fame the aim of the initiative was ??to recognise the proud history and traditions of the Game, including its origins??, and in addition since 2012 to ??celebrate Rugby??s expansion to become a global sport played by millions of men and women worldwide??.

Four members of cricket??s Hall of Fame are women. Since last year Football??s World Hall of Fame includes the USA??s Mia Hamm amongst its members. The RFL??s ??Roll of Honour?? includes three women. However, despite now specifically mentioning women, no-one associated with women??s rugby - as a player, official, coach or administrator - has ever been inducted into the IRB??s Hall of Fame.

8 March is International Women??s Day, and on that day we aim to create?˜a list of players who could?˜be inducted into a women's rugby?˜Hall of Fame in order to suggest to the IRB ?? in the year of the Women??s Rugby World Cup ?? how they can correct this omission.

Recognising the efforts and contribution of women in rugby is important because,?˜as in other sports, they have had to face far higher barriers to even simple participation than men. Up until the 1960s ?? or even latter in some countries ?? the heroes of women??s rugby were women who managed to get onto a rugby field at all.

Which is why, after the success of our Player of the Year poll, we want your help and ideas. We are looking for your suggestions for players, teams or officials who have made important contributions to the development of women??s rugby, and deserve to be part of the IRB's Hall of Fame. They may be famous players, or they may be unsung heroes who were responsible for getting the women's game started in particular countries or regions.

For example,?˜possible inductees might include??

The first inductee into the IRB Hall of Fame was William Webb Ellis. However, whereas his achievement in breaking the rules by ??picking up a ball and running with it?? is now regarded as purely mythical, there is no doubt ?? as?˜discovered by ?? that the story of the first known girl to do likewise is very much fact. That she managed to get onto a rugby field at her school in nineteenth century Enniskillen, Ireland is remarkable enough, that she also scored a try is astonishing.

Emily also represents the many other women and girls in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who wanted to play rugby, and even did ?? secretly ?? but whose stories will never be known.

Her nomination is an example of how a Hall of Fame can be used to recognise historical contributions to the game.

Carol has been at the centre of the every major development?˜in?˜women's rugby in England from the 1960s to the present day, both as a player and as an adminstrator. She began by setting up the first women's team at the University of Leeds, which in turn became a founder-member of the WRFU and then the RFUW, both of which Carol was instrumental in establishing. She also played for Great Britain and England, and in 2003 was awarded with an OBE - one of the first to be awarded in recognition of the development of the women's game. Finally in 2009 she became the first woman to be elected to the IRB's Rugby Committee.

Carol is an example of a how the Hall of Fame can include current or recently retired players and adminsitrators

?˜A leading French referee who, in the early 1970s, ignored the FFR ruling that no qualified referees should officiate at women??s games. On the contrary, in 1975 he publically announced that ????, and spent the last 11 years of his life at the centre of French women??s rugby. He became President of the AFRF (the French Women??s Rugby Association), negotiated its merger with the FFR, encouraged and aided the development of the women's game elsewhere in Europe, and was key to the organisation of the first women??s test match in 1982.

He is an example of how a Hall of Fame for women's rugby need not contain only women!

. An American women??s touring team that was unbeaten throughout a tour of the UK and France in 1985 - the first major overseas tour by any women??s team, The Wyverns included a core of players who would go on to become part of the USA team that became the first World Champions six years later, attracting some of the first significant positive publicity for the women??s game along the way. They also showed the newly-formed Women??s Rugby Football Union how far women??s rugby in the UK was behind North America

They are also an example of how Hall of Fame members need not be just individuals.

In response to our enquiries on the subject an IRB Spokesperson has said: "The IRB is committed to the continued global growth and development of the Women's Game and is investing record sums in high performance, competitions, development and mass participation as we look forward to an outstanding Women's Rugby World Cup in France later this year and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

"There are now an unprecedented 1.5 million girls and women actively playing Rugby and the IRB will be recognising those whose dedication and vision have been central to that growth in 2014."