There are 2.2 million women and girls now playing rugby at all levels, an increase of 142% since 2012, making it one of the fastest growing team sports in the world.

Katie Sadlier is World Rugby’s general manager of womens rugby, and there is an awful lot of corporate jargon and business speak in what she has to say, from intergrated development pathways to best practice governance standards, but I guess ever since the day a clearance kick became a defensive exit strategy there was no going back grammatically.

But in plain English, by 2025 the governing body has an ambition is to be a global leader in sport, where women have equal opportunities on and off the field play.

To this end “World Rugby Women’s Plan 2017-2025” is due to be cibsidered by the World Rugby Council in November.

I have been told that this plan has involved a consultation process involving  fans, unions, regional associations and broadcast partners in an attempt to generate increased interest in the women’s game, attract new investment and maximise the sports commercial value.

There is no mention of the players being consulted, most of whom at this World Cup will end up severely out of pocket, and with all their annual leave used up, but sadly thats nothing new.

Women’s rugby is a sleeping giant, the queues of people outside the UCD Bowl last week begging for tickets to watch Ireland v Japan was something I hadn’t seen in rugby since Wales v France at Cardiff Arms Park in 1978.

The Irish Rugby Union could have trebled ticket sales for the pool stages of this years tournament had they chosen Donnybrook or a similar larger venue as opposed to University College.

Also media demands need to be met and catered for to spread the word, not just the newspaper journos but also those on social media and electronic mediums who with the touch of a button can bring the wonders of the great occasion to phones iPads and computers by the tens of thousands.

We await with interest the “World Rugby Women’s Plan 2017-2025” I’ve already got my dictionary on hand to decipher it.

If it mentions stakeholders, then mine’s a medium eight ounce rib eye.

Last weekend the day came, as indeed did the hour, and despite the absence of the power and the glory, I finally answered Irelands call.

I was there specifically to attend matchday two of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, but having been denied match accreditation it gave me time to explore and reflect,on the matter of the Irish and their rugby.

As I headed out of Dublin on the DART railway, meandering southwards down the east coast of Ireland, towards Greystones,the sheer beauty of the landscape instantly puts you in a relaxed and nostalgic mood.

I was expecting a young group of people to board the train at Lansdowne Road station singing “Mustang Sally” or “Take me to the river”, but young people have no sense of “Commitments” these days.

Ireland is a complex country, (now there’s an understatement), its rugby DNA is etched in the velvety green landscape, even though it is not the major sport here.

Wherever you go there are a set of rugby posts not too far away, the map below shows, the affiliated rugby clubs of the Emerald Isle, each dot shows not only a team, but also a community, with a sense of unity and belonging.

We all know that Ireland’s political landscape has not been as relaxed and soothing as my DART journey, and yet north and south have always been united on the international rugby field.

Trevor Ringland the great Ulster and Ireland wing once said

” I refused to let symbols like flags and songs to be hijacked by extremists on both sides”

“To me, rugby was trying to build bridges while others were destroying them, we were   finding a way of working together in friendship”.

The unique Irish rugby humour is of course legendary, from the crowds chant in far off days of “kick ahead Ireland any f*****g head” to more subtle latter day fare.

The humour and the friendliness were in bountiful supply at University College yesterday there must be an awful lot of Blarney Stone induced chapped lips in the Dublin area.

Okay so they can’t organise media accreditation to save their lives but when you see how the Dublin bus service runs it explains a lot.

So finally as I bring this article to a close  in an Irish pub, unbelievably one of the original member of the Commitments is performing in a wonderful jazz set.

The evening ends with rugby and music in harmony, with the Blues as France beat Australia and Cry me a river echoes from Searsons pub into the dark Dublin night.

Ireland host the biggest event in women’s world rugby next month, and before a ball has even been kicked many of the world’s media are nonplussed at the totally inadequate facilities for such a prestige tournament.

The number of media personnel that have been refused accreditation for the tournament is alarming, and I am not the only hacked off hack.

I have had countless e mails and tweets, from journalists and photographers, much higher up the food chain than yours truly, who are extremely upset and bewildered at Irish Rugbys total lack of appreciation, and foresight, when assessing the volume of media interest at this years Rugby World Cup tournament.

Hotels and flights have had to be booked well in advance, and at premium rates, due to the fact the biggest global sporting event taking place in August inevitably results in massively hiked up prices for travel and accommodation.

Many journalists and photographers are severely out-of-pocket, myself included, and as freelancers we have to take it on the chin, with no possibility of recompense.

A highly regarded photographer outside of Europe withdrew his name from the accreditation process last week.

He told me ” I got the impression that even with me jumping through hoops last week to get them information they have somehow lost that I wouldn’t be guaranteed a spot” 

“I was asked to hard block this time off in my calendar a year ago in peak sports/wedding shooting season and there’s a chance I wouldn’t even know if I was accredited until I showed up in Ireland”

Closer to home a journalist who is well-known and has covered every Ireland game home and away since 2008 received notification that his accreditation had been refused.

These are just two examples of many journalists and photographers who have supported the women’s game week in week out, who now find themselves questioning their future coverage of the women’s game.

Some have told me they are worried that if they complain too much they will suffer the consequences when it comes to further accreditation requests.

In most cases no explanations were given for refusal, but thanks to some high-profile support my application was taken further, although the outcome was the same as shown below.

Maybe the whole problem stems from the fact that the Dublin venue is totally inadequate to house twelve international teams on one day.

The UCD is sold out and had a capacity of 3000, bearing in mind 6000 spectators attended Ireland v England in the women’s six nations, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that something is very wrong here.

Even those that have been granted accreditation have been told, by Irish Rugby that they may not be able to attend the actual games they are being paid to cover.

Women’s rugby has been constantly crying out for the increased media coverage their game deserves, and now at a time when it gets top billing, they have been badly let down by the organisers of WRWC 2017.

With Ireland bidding to host the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2023 the legacy of this tournament may not be a very positive one.

 

Many of the England squad, the favourites to lift the Women’s Rugby World Cup trophy at the end of August, will return from the tournament, win or lose, to find themselves unemployed.

England rugby bosses have informed the squad that their current professional contracts will not be renewed when they expire on 31 August.

Now I’m no expert on psychology and squad preparation at the highest level of elite rugby, but I would have thought that informing your national side that they will get the boot straight after the biggest tournament of their lives, is probably not a good thing in terms of morale and motivation.

Fifty players are currently employed on either a full or part-time basis, but as from September only seventeen full-time sevens contracts will be offered.

The reason given for this incredibly ill-timed decision is that England’s focus will be switching to the World Cup Sevens, to be held in San Francisco next year, and the Olympic games event in Tokyo in 2020.

Privately I have been informed that morale in the squad has been affected, as you would expect in any walk of life when you face the sack when there are mortgages and bills to pay, although I guarantee that every loyal England player will not admit it publicly.

So when they should be focussing on rugby, these poor souls are having to fit in job hunting and CV preparations around their rugby world cup preparations.

Some of the squad will be offered sevens contracts but relatively few.

It will be interesting to see how England start the tournament, on August 9th, when they face Spain in the opening match in Dublin.

 

 

On July 13, 2017 AN Post, Ireland’s postal service issued a stamp to commemorate the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Ireland have always been keen to celebrate rugby via the postal system, particularly Rugby World Cup tournaments.

The wonderful 1995 tournament in South Africa was celebrated by many dogs in Ireland as the stamps issued, shown below, landed on the doormat to be chewed to pieces by hungry Labrador’s all across the Emerald Isle.

Not many gingers have had their “boat race” splashed over a 55c philatelic special, but in 2007 the great Paul O’Connell received the special treatment, to commemorate the World Cup in France.

The canine population of Eire celebrated equally vociferously dancing on the doormats of Dublin with a quadrupedal Riverdance.

Now, in 2017 the eighth Women’s Rugby Cup takes place in  Ireland.

Matches are planned from August 9 to August 26 in University College Dublin, Queens University, Belfast and in Kingspan Stadium, home of Ulster Rugby, in Belfast.

The pool stages take place in University College Dublin from August 9 to August 17, with the semi-finals and play-offs in Upper Malone, Queens University, Belfast from August 22 to August 26. The final will be played at the Kingspan Stadium which is one of the shortlisted venues for Ireland’s 2023 Rugby World Cup bid.

The postal services have come up trumps once again with a 1 Euro stamp featuring Niamh Briggs, captain of Ireland and Limerick Garda officer.

The stamp you see here was designed by Zinc Design Consultants, and shows the Irish captain in the thick of the action on the field.

So the Labrador’s wolfhounds and Irish setters will be rubbing their paws with glee as a new Irish rugby face is about to greet them through the letterbox.

In Ancient Rome the colour red symbolised blood and courage, whilst in China, it is regarded as a vibrant optimistic colour symbolising success, happiness and warmth, along with good luck and wealth.

On a rain lashed night in Wellington, the Westpac stadium was a sea of red, every tour party member wearing their customised red waterproofs ,the large collected droplets of rain cascading from the dark night skies reflecting on the jackets  like a sea of mirrors in the floodlit arena.

For the All  Blacks, the colour red came to symbolise the lost opportunity of sealing a series  win in which they are overwhelming favourites

With twenty four minutes on the clock, Sonny Bill Williams’ shoulder made contact with Anthony Watson’s head, referee Jerome Garces  pulled a card from his pocket, the colour ? Red.

The men in the red shirts were not going to let the chance of a lifetime slip through their fingers and end up with red faces, they levelled the series with a 24-21 victory.

The decider in Auckland next Saturday will be a noisy vibrant colourful affair and maybe, just maybe the colour red, will be the one in which the Lions and their amazing followers paint the town.

It has been a strange week, whilst Jonsey, Slotty, Barnesy, Moose and almost every other rugby writer was experiencing the Endless Winter in New Zealand, I found myself walking my lovely little boy around the lake, daily, at 6am, when the temperatures were already in the mid twenties, and yes I am in Britain, or at least my body is.

My mind and soul are 11,400 miles away in Auckland, by the way my lovely boy is a seven month old black Labrador, who is most perturbed that we couldnt play rugby in the garden this week due to temperatures reaching the mid thirties.

Social media brought everything instantly to my iPad, even whilst I was in a perspiring puddle at 2am and unable to sleep I was getting updates from the boys down under.

It is strange to think that forty-six years ago,in 1971, I was in a similarly sleepless, albeit cooler state, as my radio battled to bring me commentary on the first test between The All Blacks and the Lions.

Yesterday I didn’t have to conjure  up images from Wilson Whineray’s excited radio commentary, as I did all those years ago, these days it’s razor-sharp pictures preceded by hours of analysis and predictions, and that’s just me sorting out my breakfast.

When a man called Moses is chosen to sing the NZ national anthem before kick off you know the writing’s on the wall,  and the commandment thou shalt not lose at Eden park is unlikely to be broken.

As night fell in Auckland it was ironic that a man called Daly crossed the All Blacks line within two minutes of the start, had he managed to ground the ball who knows what might have been.

The All Blacks were leading 13-3 when the score, that from this day forward will be known as “That Try” , swept ninety metres in twenty one seconds.

Touched down by O’Brien it was started ten metres from his own line  by O’my  goodness (Liam Williams) and on reaching  half way his pass started the O’key cokey between Jon Davies and Eliot Daly who took the ball to the All Blacks five metre line with an in out in out exchange before Sean O’Brien,with Knees bent arms stretched,dived over for a try that sent almost every Lions fan airborne with 35:23 on the clock.

For a while I dared to dream, but the All Blacks  are pretty good at delivering reality checks and they didn’t need their sponsors DHL to get a signature for this one.

The weather has now cooled by the way as has my optimism, but the series is not over yet, and Wellington next Saturday could yet be the start of a glorious sunny spell for the Lions.

Almost every photograph of the Lions management, on the current tour appears to include an erected hood or an umbrella and in some cases both.

So is it just a myth that it always rains in the land of the long white cloud ?

The locals in Queenstown whilst sipping a cold steinlager will tell you
“If  you can see mount cook its going to rain, and if you can’t see it, then it’s already raining “.

Whilst being interviewed during the 1977 Lions tour to New Zealand Peter Wheeler the English hooker commented “It only rained twice this week, once for four days and once for three days”.

A Welsh player on that very same tour when asked if his hamstring twinge was improving replied “The hamstring is fine but its been so wet I’m now struggling with trench foot“.

Milford Sound has the dubious honour of being wettest inhabitited place in New Zealand, and one the wettest in the world.

It has a mean annual rainfall of 6,412 mm (252 inches) each year, a high level even for the West Coast, and rainfall can reach 250 mm (10 inches) during a spell of 24 hours.

 All Blacks followers know that when the rain does eventually stop there will be a Sonny spell just around the corner as Mr Bill Williams lets his talents shine through, let’s just hope on the day of the first test  Auckland receives Milford Sound weather or at the very least a big dollop of cloud.

The irony that the young man nicknamed “Pence” by his team mates has been earning 55,000 euros a month whilst playing for Toulon is not lost on those back home in his native Gorseinon

His contract with the French club has come to an end, and the shaningans regarding an extension have reached soap opera proportions on both sides of the channel.

With Mourad Boujallel involved perhaps pantomime would be a more accurate description of events.

The president of the Rugby Club Toulon, confided in the columns of “Var Matin” that he has made an offer to Halfpenny and will not make a second one, and the ball is now firmly in the Lions full backs court

“Leigh Halfpenny had a proposal a dozen days ago”

“Either it accepts it, or he does not sign it”

“There will be no other, knowing that he will not be there for six months next year”

“For my part, I am convinced that we lost the Top 14 final because of his absence”. 

That last quote really hits the nail on the head, underlining Boujallels fury that his star full back missed the Top 14 final due to a clause in his contract that allowed him full release for British and Irish Lions duty in New Zealand.

Days before the crucial semi final against La Rochelle in Marseille Boujallel was rattling his gums on television radio and written media announcing that he was going to offer a vastly reduced contract to Halfpenny, not ideal preparation for big game you would think.

But Leigh, a shy modest character with a work ethic second to none, managed to keep his focus, and his immaculate goal kicking at the Orange Velodrome played a huge part in taking Toulon to the final in Paris. 

An offer from Cardiff Blues under a national dual contract with the Welsh Rugby Union was turned down by Halfpenny due to the length of contract offered rather than the drastically reduced monthly income it would produce.

His partner Jess is understandably keen to stay in this beautiful region of France where they have both settled and embraced the way of life.

Possible moves to Bath or another Top 14 club are on the cards should the Toulon deal not be agreed, one thing is for sure a decision will have to be reached very soon.

It has been a right Royal month for one of the world’s top referees Alhambra Nievas.

She refereed the Copa del Rey Final (The Kings Cup) in front of  a passionate 21,000 crowd in Vallodolid, where UE Santaboian beat Silver storm El Salavador 16-6 in a match where the rain in Spain fell not mainly on the plain, but mainly and by the bucket load on Estadio Jose Zorrilla.

There was virtually no mention of Alhambra’s refereeing performance in any of the newspaper reports of the match, which is just the way she likes it.

“No news good news” she often tells me, meaning if she does not get a mention in match reports, then done her job has gone well, and as an ex international player she knows  that the players are the main protagonists in our great game.

Media coverage inevitably focuses on the fact that she is a woman, and we both share a  common and fervent hope that the day will soon come day when referee announcements will no longer require a gender prefix.

After the kings cup, the only thing could top that experience was to have lunch with the King of Spain himself, which Alhambra duly did.

It seemed entirely appropriate that our own queen of hearts was invited to the royal palace, I just hope she didn’t shout out a crouch, bind, set instruction to His Majesty  when it was time to eat.

Alhambra’s schedule is non stop and with airports awaiting and rugby matters to attend to, after a brief period of family time, she will be off to Canada and France to referee in the final two legs of the womens world series sevens.

Then it’s back home prepare for this summers big event, the Womens rugby world cup taking place in Ireland throughout August.

There will be world cup warm up games to officiate, followed by a month in Ireland for the tournament itself, where she has promised to buy me a guinness somwhere along the way.

This humble friendly and personable young woman will go about her business in her usual modest and charming manner, leaving the limelight to others whilst spreading the gospel of our great game and its values.

“No news good news” ?  When Alhambra is refereeing your match it is definately good news.

Now where’s that Guinness ?