Irish rugby is building on the popular support and success of the senior Women’s team at this summers World Cup by rolling out ‘Give it a Try’ a programme aimed at encouraging young girls to take up the sport.
The programme is based firmly through clubs and provides a clear and concise seven step programme to establishing a girls mini rugby group.
Promotional material uses Listowel RFC in Kerry as an example of what is possible. They moved from having nine girls playing alongside the boys in a mini rugby set up in 2012 to 69 girls playing across four age groups within a year.
Increased membership
The impact has been of benefit not only to the players but to the club as a whole with a 38% increase in membership and a 43% increase in revenue.
Those are significant and substantial numbers, achieved through offering a facility to families and through local schools.
“We are helping clubs to help themselves through giving a clear programme on how to establish a girls section,” said Nora Stapleton, IRFU Women’s and Girls Rugby Development Executive.
“There are six Women’s development Officers across the four provinces and they are linking in with Community Rugby initiatives to offer support, encouragement and equipment.”
“The first step is to contact them, the next is to work within the club to champion the new initiative and gain support from the outset.”
Facilities
“Making sure that facilities are available and setting up timetables to work with other sections in a club is important as is working as a team to get as many parents involved as possible from an early stage.”
“Rugby is a great sport for girls to get involved in. There are no stars in a group, it’s all about the team and how you play together, improve your skills together, and enjoy sport as part of a group.”
“Perhaps the most important result of the great coverage we got from France was removing the fear of the unknown.”
“People saw that it is a skilful as well as a physical game and also that when we got knocked over, we bounced back up straight away. No damage, no injury. We wanted to get back on our feet to help our team and that’s a great lesson.”
Vanguard
Women’s rugby is in the vanguard of how Women’s sport is being perceived differently in 2014 even to what it was four years ago. The Irish Women’s 7’s team will compete at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 and the surge in interest and engagement that will bring can be harnessed by clubs to transform themselves into being a full part of the communities they operate in.
Aon’s coming on board as sponsor of the Senior Women’s team has raised awareness in business circles of the potential there is for reaching consumers through new channels.
It’s a movement which is echoed through soccer where Continental Tyres are now on board as primary sponsors of the Women’s game and in the growth in popularity of gaelic football for women, Camogie, Hockey, Basketball, Athletics and so many more sports.
Brands
Liberty Insurance, Tesco and Electric Ireland are among the major brands that have firmly committed to support of Women’s sport.
The growth of Women’s sport is important from a social and a business perspective as well as in the obvious wellness benefits it brings. It has to start at a young age and the ‘Give it a Try’ initiative from the IRFU is pitched at precisely the right point from which to start.
