The Rise of Girls’ Rugby in the UK
Women and girls’ rugby: the game that keeps growing
Women’s rugby is one of the fastest growing sports, and for good reason too.
Over 40,000 women and girls are currently registered as players across over 400 clubs in England, and 90,000 girls are taking part in the game across schools, colleges and universities.
The fact that this year’s TikTok Women’s Six Nation’s is in its own window, away from the men’s competition, has certainly helped the sport to grow.
We have already seen record breaking crowds at matches, with just under 15,000 people attending the England v Wales TikTok Women’s Six Nations match at Kingsholm Stadium. That record was soon beaten at Welford Road, with 15,836 fans cheering on England v Ireland in round four of the TikTok Women’s Six Nations.
The current world record for attendance at a standalone women’s rugby match sits at 17,440. This happened in 2018 in France, against England. If the growth of the game continues at this rate, I am more than sure we will beat this record, at some stage in the future.
As the fan base for women’s rugby is growing, participation in the game is too. As the game becomes more popular and is given more opportunities to be broadcast on the likes of the BBC, naturally more women and girls will be interested in playing the sport. As the usual phrase goes “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it!”.
The RFU recently confirmed that the sport has seen a 17% year-on-year growth in participation, which is amazing!
If you are feeling inspired to pick up a rugby ball and give the sport a go, make sure you head over to this club finder tool from Girls’ Rugby Club, which can be found here.
Rugby is a special sport because everyBODY is welcome. You don’t have to have a certain type of body to take part, players of all levels of fitness are encouraged to go and pick up a ball.
So, what are you waiting for? Head on down to your local club, I promise you won’t regret it!
