Growing the game in central Europe

The nations in Division A are all enthusiastic and ambitious, with often similar player numbers, and many?˜might be seen as ??typical?? of rising rugby nations - but what is fascinating is how different they are, and how many and varied are ways in which the women??s game in growing and developing in nations outside its traditional areas.

Switzerland and the Czech Republic are two such nations, and the recent Amsterdam Sevens allowed ScrumQueens to catch up with some of their coaches and players, and find out how more about women??s rugby away from the spotlight of the Six Nations and the Top 12.

Pavel Hodan ()?˜is coach of the Czech women??s team, and spoke with confidence about the development of the game in his country:

"Women??s rugby in Czech Republic is growing well??, he said, ??every year more teams, more players, so much so that this year we been able to form a national fifteens squad, as well as a sevens team.

??Women??s rugby was first played some 20 years ago with two clubs, but they did not last. However, five years ago official competitions restarted - the Olympics being an important factor in growth, though another is the fact that in the past there have only two team sports for women in Czech republic ?? soccer and ice hockey ?? and if you do not want to play rugby now a real alternative.

??Women wanting to play sport discover rugby through our websites, Facebook pages, or from word of mouth. Friends bring along friends - we try to encourage players from other sports to try the game, and that is being quite successful. "

??We have a sevens league with fifteen teams spread across two divisions, four of whom also now playing fifteens as well. At the moment most players prefer sevens - fifteens is a new game for us??.

Looking to this year??s sevens Pavel is realistic, ??We are hosting the European Sevens A Championship, and our aim is for promotion in the future, but with a new and young team our main target for now is to consolidate our place in this division??.

This picture of a game growing internally, finding new players from other sports ?? or players who currently have no sport to play ?? and of a game where sevens is the main driver of development may seem to be as expected ?? it is almost exactly the model the IRB has described for how it expects women??s rugby to grow worldwide.

It is therefore something of a surprise to talk to Switzerland, and see how different things can be. We met with Swiss coach Petra Tretter, and several players, including Carole Casparis and Cynthia Munsterman.

In marked contrast to the Czech Republic, in Switzerland the game is based around fifteens, with sevens relatively less important, and less popular. ??Rugby in Switzerland is still very, very small??, said Petra (encouraging her team, left), ??We have about five clubs who fight against each other in a fifteens competition. In sevens we have our Swiss Super Sevens, but the level of sevens rugby is not so developed as it should be. We are working on it ?? we are looking for new players, young players (as everyone is).

"However we are not so much picking up players from other sports. Most of our players are people who had a student exchange year in a rugby-playing country??.

Both Carole and Cynthia confirmed this, ??I got into rugby through playing in rugby in the states on exchange??, said Carole, ??I played high school rugby. I discovered it there and came back to Switzerland and realised that they had a couple of girls' teams there who played the sport.?? Cynthia??s route into the game was almost identical, ??I came into the game while studying in Belgium??, she said.

??The trouble is that most Swiss people confuse rugby with American footba