The excitement and influence of the 2021 (played in 2022) Rugby World Cup was evident well before the tournament kicked off, and just a few weeks after club registration for 2023 opened around New Zealand, we’ve got the numbers to measure just how inspirational the Black Ferns’ performance was.
New Zealand Rugby’s General Manager of Community Rugby Steve Lancaster joined the All Blacks podcast this week and shared some insights into the state of the game at the grassroots level.
Unsurprisingly, he reported the women’s game had seen a monumental increase in registrations. Lancaster used a comparison to 2022 as well as a comparison to 2019 as pre-Covid numbers are more relevant to the state of normalcy currently enjoyed.
“Our women’s and girl’s numbers are through the roof,” he said. “We’ve been tracking consistently from the beginning of registrations to approximately double where they were last year and we’re forecasting those numbers to be significantly up on 2019.
“but it’s bigger than that right? It’s about what this game has done to the national psyche and awareness of the game and that the game is a game for all.
“The World Cup and the Black ferns last year have introduced a whole new bunch of rugby role models that probably didn’t exist or certainly not to the same degree before last year so that’s a real positive. Over half the people who attended World Cup fixtures last year were attending a rugby game for the first time.”
Lancaster also reported on how New Zealand’s rugby community is embracing and catering for the women’s game like never before.
“Our system is much more aware of the opportunity with women’s and girl’s participation and also the demand for it. We’re seeing clubs standing up girl’s teams and women’s teams where they haven’t before. We’re seeing provincial unions initiating girl’s only grades at teenage level and new and expanded women’s grades.
“So, system readiness along with the massive exposure at the end of last year and the fantastic role modelling that came out of that campaign has helped a lot.”
Assisting the provincial and club level growth is investment from New Zealand Rugby and their recent deal with private equity firm Silver Lake.
“Seven and a half million was invested directly into the club network, the majority of that investment has gone into facilities.
“For a lot of clubs they simply weren’t or aren’t equipped to teams populated with women and girls – having urinals as opposed to toilet cubicles, shower cubicles vs mass showers so there’s been a lot of investment into club facilities to make them more welcoming for women and girls.
“Our girls activator program, we’ve got 14 of those around the country, gives girls a first exposure to rugby. We started that last year and we’ll continue that this year and we’re projecting 150,000 girls will have a rugby experience through that program this year.”
Earlier this month, New Zealand Rugby released a ten-year strategy for growing the women’s game. The strategy is the result of 12 months of consultation and development, with 1,500 hours of feedback provided by more than 2,200 people in the rugby community.
“We’ve got a much more focused and deliberate approach to growing the game for women and girls,” Lancaster said of the new strategy. “And that’s not just in a playing capacity, but it’s actually women in rugby.
“Underpinning the strategy is significant investment in women’s and girl’s rugby, so 22 million dollars next year budget within NZR for growing the women’s and girl’s game. We’ve got six new roles within NZR alone, we’ve got new programs that we’re standing up so there’s a bit of substance behind the rhetoric as well.”
