Women’s rugby can teach the men’s game exactly what it needs right now
For the last 10 years, the story of women’s rugby has been told through the lens of investment and comparison. How quickly could it catch up with the men’s game? When would attendances improve? When would broadcasters pay for it and big brand sponsors follow? Those were understandable questions, but they are now the wrong [...]
For ten years, the discourse around women's rugby has been framed through the prism of investment and comparison to the men's game. Questions about growth and commercial success dominated the conversation. However, recent developments suggest that women's rugby is evolving into a formidable growth story for rugby as a whole, and there are valuable lessons the men's game could learn from it.
The proof of this lies in the statistics. The 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup shattered attendance, engagement, and sponsorship records, indicating not just potential but real momentum. Domestic women's rugby teams have seen a 23% increase in average attendances and a fan database that has quadrupled. Women's rugby has successfully connected with Gen Z by embracing modern marketing strategies, such as leveraging social media influencers, creating engaging content, and emphasizing personal stories.
This approach has resulted in a more diverse fan base, with 15% of attendees at the World Cup being first-time rugby spectators and nearly a third of women's rugby fans being under 35. The game's increasing visibility among younger audiences is attributed to enhanced player exposure. Women's rugby's commercial advantage lies in its relative lack of inherited infrastructure, allowing it to innovate and experiment with formats, partnerships, and voices without being bound by tradition.
Sponsors are now seeking more than just a logo placement but a meaningful engagement with the game and its fans. Daryl West, partnerships director at AG1, points out that women's rugby players are their most valuable asset: authentic, relatable, and trusted figures who have cultivated large social followings, providing sponsors with a credible voice rather than just a logo.
Despite the domestic game's financial challenges, women's rugby offers a unique opportunity to rethink the sport's approach. It should no longer be merely evaluated based on its proximity to the men's game. Instead, the real question is how women's rugby can carve out its own identity and provide the men's game with valuable insights.
The conversation surrounding rugby's future has shifted, and the men's game would benefit from embracing this transformation.
Written by urgent.news from City AM's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
