LONDON: On a rugby pitch in inner-city London, a fresh wave of new players is signing up, inspired by England’s triumph at this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup.
The Hackney Gladies – the women’s side of the Hackney Rugby Football Club – said the victory in September has sparked a surge in enthusiasm for the sport.
“This year, (interest has) just taken over. We've already had about 25 new signups … which has meant that people like me, who used to play, are stepping up and coaching,” said Lamees Idris, who chairs the senior teams.
She added that the World Cup win has helped shift attitudes on women’s rugby, challenging old stereotypes and bringing new visibility to the game.
The Rugby Football Union, the sport’s governing body in England, wants to build on the momentum. It aims to grow the number of female rugby players from 60,000 currently to 100,000 by 2030.
Yet, turning elite success into broader sports participation among British women and girls will require tackling the barriers that keep them away in the first place.
Rugby is a sport where power, strength, aggression and competitiveness are valued as essential to success – qualities that are often celebrated in male athletes but not traditionally associated with women.
“It's inherently been a traditionally male sport so I think there're people who look at you and think, ‘Do you know what you're doing?’” coach and player Charlie Noble told CNA.
“Whenever I play it, I get asked questions: ‘Is it proper rugby, is it contact rugby?’’ … And they’re always a little bit hard to stomach,” she said, adding that such questions would never be posed to men.
Additionally, training in public areas such as parks, where research shows women feel twice as unsafe as men,
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