Carty positive on game’s growth

??˜????We are working with all of our Regional Associations to enhance our activities across their member unions. For example I??m going to Argentina at the?vbeginning of December to run a leading women??s rugby development?vworkshop. We??ll be bringing together people from all of the South? American member unions to continue the work we have been doing to build their?development plans and programmes. ??I will also be in South Africa in February looking at how we can take ?forward the African women??s rugby development programme we ran last April with nine of the region??s?˜unions. At our last meeting we identified the? need for the unions to appoint women??s development officers, and we? will be bringing them together for training about what to do and how? to do it, turning commitment into action on the ground, bringing girls in, training them and progressing them.??

??We are seeing the number of girls playing? increase, primarily with ??Get Into Rugby?? ?? our mass? participation programme. This has been a great success ?? 36% of all? 400,000 participants in the programme worldwide are girls. Now we want ?to help them ensure that there is a solid foundation to build on. We are putting the steps in place so that the girls have a pathway to?˜progress to the top level where they will have? a?˜way to select and support. In addition we are looking to build?competition structures to further support that development.

We are finding that the more variety and forms of games we offer to? women and girls the more possibility we create to bring them into the ?game, whether it is 15s or 7s or tag or touch or beach rugby ?? they? are all growing, which is why we look at the total number of women and?girls playing some form of rugby, not just those who are registered.? And the good news here is that, thanks to combined mixed and? girls-only strategies, 145,000 girls and women have been introduced to? the game in the last two years."

"We expect the latest data from the ?unions to show that there are now 1.7 million women and girls playing ?some form of rugby in over 110 countries around the world. So the? debate about what format is more important is not really a debate? anymore."

Rugby is a mainstream sport in some countries but the ?effect of our programmes can be interesting in countries new to rugby where the girls game is developing quickly. For example in Laos? I am told it is said that ??rugby is for girls, football for boys??. Some countries which had some women??s rugby activity are choosing to ?develop the game through 7s, but not at the expense of 15s. Australia is an example ?? they are committed to the Women??s World Cup. They may have adopted 7s with the ?target of the Olympics, but their 15s programme is strong. There was some debate? in some countries when 7s was growing as to whether that was to be ?the format of the sport for girls, but rugby is a sport for all and ?that is because of the 15s game. And some countries that have chosen? to develop through the 7s game are finding that 15s is increasing? in their country on the back of focusing on 7s.

??It is worth remembering that it was rugby that was voted into the Olympics and World Rugby??s discipline of choice is 7s?˜and that is why we are seeing NOC funding, government and local authority support for 15s as 7s.??

??I think that in some countries using 7s as a development tool is a ?perfectly appropriate way to develop the women??s game, but that does ?not limit their ambition to just 7s. ?˜I had an interesting? conversation with the development director in Columbia who wants to? work with Venezuela as a means of allowing Columbia??s girls to play? XVs at an international level. And in Europe we have seen the examples? of Switzerland and the Czech Republic. So we are seeing new countries? emerging with 15s from 7s.

"We are also supporting development of new countries by supporting?˜more ?international competition. We??ve gone from one-off 7s events to? series based approaches in Asia and Europe, and in South America we? now have more international tournaments, though not yet a South? American series. Finally we also have the major events to capture the imagination and ?inspire nations around the world. And the Olympics is adding to that.??

??There is no doubt that Rio 2016 will create and truly launch stars of our sport to wider audiences outside of traditional Rugby fans ?? that is an exciting prospect. ?If the infrastructure and pathways are in place before people see and ?are inspired by the top teams playing on a world stage at Rio in 2016,? then when girls see it and say ??Wow that looks great, I want to do that?? ?they can be pointed up the road to a school or club to get them ?involved. The Olympics also showcases the game, unlocking funding? resources and support??

??We have a really strong integrated calendar and we repositioned the Women??s World Cup to 2017, then 2021 and so on to provide the opportunity for our top players to compete at the highest level in 15s and 7s. We are building on 2014 towards 2017 showcasing the best teams in the?˜world. There is a long term view for the World Cup and we are now talking to unions about facilitating a process to plan games and ensure XVs has a clear direction. But we can??t plan all activity for countries - much activity is initiated and planned by the unions themselves.

??In a rapidly growing sport, we must keep reviewing and assessing what we need to make the next step up, including supporting counties in inter-regional games and tournaments ??? though this is in its early days. But already we have events like ?the Asia- Pacific Sevens in Borneo and closer links are developing ?between countries in the North and South American regions.? One last development we plan for 2015 is the launch of a women??s test?ranking. It will make a difference, showing countries where they? are at, which will help support bids for funding. It will add to the? profile of the game, give countries targets to work towards, and give ?us more to talk about when we promote test matches as every match will ?count in a ranking.??

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