Canada players refuse to “pay-to-play”

There are obvious costs to playing world-class rugby. Bruises, bone breaks and bloody gashes are hazards of the sport trophy wounds from tough play in a tough game.

Then theres this cost: $2,900.

Its the price each member of the Canadian womens national team must pay to compete on home soil in next weeks international Nations Cup at Oakvilles Appleby College. The sum includes purchasing the clothing theyll wear to represent their country, right down to the jersey emblazoned with Canadas iconic red maple leaf.

This, in the same year that the mens national team has a $1.8 million budget to prepare for the World Cup in New Zealand, which begins Sept. 9To me, its a bit of slap in the face, said Mississauga high school teacher Brooke Hilditch.

Hilditch is one of three senior national team players who refused to participate in the Nations Cup, to protest Rugby Canadas pay-to-play system for women in non-World Cup years.

South Africa, England, the United States and Canada are competing in the Nations Cup, with matches starting Tuesday. Boycotting the event with Hilditch, 31, are Gillian Florence, 36, of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., and Torontos Megan Gibbs, 26.

Hilditch, a fly half and eight-year veteran of the national team, previously shelled out $2,500 to play for Canada in a 2009 Nations Cup.

I can afford it. Im a teacher and I have a salary . . . but the point Im trying to make is in the future, we wont be fielding our best team. Well only have girls who can afford it, and thats not the goal of having a national team.

Rugby Canada chief executive officer Graham Brown counters that the criticism is unfair, particularly after a World Cup year when revenue is difficult to generate for women.

He says there were two options for the Nations Cup: Dont play at all and collapse the program for a year this is the womens only competition for 2011 or ask the players to write cheques.

Its not that theres no money for women, says Brown, who notes Rugby Canada board members reallocated $51,000 in cash to defray Nations Cup costs for the senior team and the under-20 women, who also have international matches.

Its just hard to fund (the women) at the appropriate level on a four-year cycle every year, the rugby executive says.

The under-20 players paid $4,100 to train in B.C. and compete in California this summer an amount Brown says was tough to talk to parents about, and I talked to a lot of parents.

Brown says the senior womens team, which uses 15 players on a football-sized field, has all its expenses paid during a World Cup year. (The most recent was 2010, in which Canada finished sixth, dropping from a fourth-place performance in 2006.)

Those expenses are paid by Rugby Canada, with the International Rugby Board picking up the World Cup tabs for travel, accommodation and food.

Neither the womens nor mens rugby teams receives Sport Canada money for competitions because traditional rugby is not an Olympic sport. However, national team members 22 men and 22 women receive Sport Canada carding money worth approximately $20,000 a year to cover training and living expenses. Hilditch, Florence and Gibbs receive that funding.

However, seven-a-side rugby a quicker version of the game will make its Olympic debut in 2016. The Canadian womens sevens are one of the worlds dominant teams and receive $750,000 in funds and support from Canadas Own the Podium program. The mens sevens, as of now, receive no Own the Podium cashBut why are the senior men so flush?

The IRB which generates about $500 million from its quadrennial World Cup competition heavily infuses the mens program with cash.

Last year, the IRB gave Rugby Canada $1,742,916, according to the national sport bodys financial statements from 2010. This year, the IRB is paying all of the Canadian mens World Cup bills for the six-week showcase, as much as $400,000 for flights alone, money Rugby Canada doesnt have to shell out.

Brown says Rugby Canada would struggle to run such a vibrant mens program without IRB money (even though the men also attract Canadian sponsorships) and hopes the international body might look at supporting the womens game more enthusiastically.

Canadas national womens soccer teams, in comparison, are getting $1.7 million from Own the Podium in 2011-12 and the national womens water polo teams get $1.5 million.

The Canadian Soccer Association has about 360,000 girls and women registered to play at all levels. Rugby Canada has 21,500 registered players, about 40 per cent of whom are women.

For the Nations Cup in Oakville, the IRB gave Rugby Canada $10,000. Brown says its not a lot but its key to bringing in top-flight international referees one of the many costs in running an international event.

The Canadians, however, are not alone in using a pay-to-play model for women.

Alex Williams, the womens high performance director at USA Rugby, says her national team players ended up forking over about the same as the Canadians by paying training camp expenses and fees leading up to the Oakville event.

Were very much in the same boat, says Williams, noting American women pay between $2,000 and $5,000 some years. We are trying very hard to improve their funding so its not so much a pay-to-play system to represent your country.

Williams says she cancelled an annual Can-Am match between the two countries this year because she didnt have enough in his budget to cover it and didnt want to ask her players to pay for two competitions.

As for Hilditch, she says she didnt take a public stand without thinking the ramifications through, since she still wants to play for Canada.

I might be losing my chances but I think its worth it for the future of our team, the high school teacher says.

I see so many girls who are so talented and I dont want them being poor while trying to play for their country because thats not what the national team should be about.