The domestic dispute

On Tuesday, the IRFU has announced it is to initiate a comprehensive review of the Women’s Adult Club Competition. By Wednesday it had announced a new strategy and an ambitious plan to have four professional provinces in the women’s game by the 2026/2027 season.

In a very welcome announcement regarding the club competition, the organisation acknowledged the importance of the domestic game stating it “remains the foundation for player, coach, referee, and volunteer development”.

In recent years, many will be forgiven for having thought the organisation lacked any real care or ambition for the women’s game, but recent noise from Lansdowne Road is considerably positive and shows a clear determination to drive the game in the right direction.

Crucial to the strategy is having key people in roles within the organisation who see the value in the game, none more important than Head of Strategy, Lynne Cantwell.

““This strategy is about far more than sport. It’s about creating meaningful and lasting system change for women and girls in Irish Rugby – whether they’re playing their first mini game at six, representing Ireland on the world stage, or volunteering at their local club. We’re building an environment where women can thrive at every level – where talent is nurtured, contributions are valued, and success is shared.”

Cantwell, with 86 Irish caps and a grand slam medal to her name, and the former Women’s High-Performance Manager with the South African Rugby Union, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role.

Celtic Challenges

In recent years, the focus of the women’s elite club game has moved from the AIL league to the Celtic Challenge, where the two Irish sides, the Wolfhounds and the Clovers have dominated over their Welsh and Scottish counterparts. This has come under criticism as the AIL clubs have had their top players raided by the newer Celtic Challenge sides, leaving a void to be filled in its wake.

The IRFU seems eager to pursue the international competition as the crucial step in the pathway between the amateur club game and the elite international level. While the Celtic Challenge is not yet a professional competition, it has hopes of evolving into one in the future.

The IRFU appear to have brought forward their ambitions for four professional provincial teams, though they acknowledged that it is an ambitious task, with much of that depending on elements somewhat beyond their control.

In particular, hopes of a cross-border professional competition hinge on the Scottish Rugby Unions and Welsh Rugby Unions holding the same ambition as the IRFU, but these hopes appear to have hit a roadblock, with as yet unsettled contracts for the Scottish players less than two months out from a World Cup. The Welsh senior internationals were in a similar position last season, with controversy over the way the WRU handled the contract negotiations.

Both the SRU and WRU seem very much focused on the issues that are plaguing the men’s game at present, and history appears to be repeating itself, with the women’s game taking a backseat as a result.

It’s an uncomfortable position to be in for the IRFU, with much of their recent ambition for the Celtic Challenge lying beyond their control, but the recent announcement of a review of the club structure will be very welcome.

Governing overhaul

The major internal roadblock to these lofty ambitions has always been how the game is governed from within. While focus will be on growing player populations, developing a clear pathway from mini, all the way to the top tier international game, and on securing investment in the game, they key area that needs to share the desire is at committee level, be it within clubs, within the provinces and even at the IRFU level.

Rugby is traditionally a men’s game, where women were excluded for decades. Clubs and the union were built for and by men, they’re run for the most part by men and by people who value the men’s game most. The women’s game is growing, but it is under the control of those who’s priority lies elsewhere.

This is the root cause of the WRU and SRU prioritising the men now, it’s the reason women’s teams in clubs struggle to even get pitch time for training, it’s why we see so many young girls and women give up on sport, because they see the inequality at every step and many don’t want to fight an uphill battle, they’d rather just enjoy the game fairly.

If the IRFU are to actually succeed in their objectives, they truly need to consider a governance overhaul. The decision makers at every level, in the women’s game, need to be the people who see the women’s game as their personal priority. At present, clubs have to go begging cap in hand to the provincial committees who largely got involved in rugby through the men’s game and who’s love of the game is rooted in an understanding of the men’s traditions, values and needs.

Equally, when the IRFU seek to roll out aspirational plans, they often find a logjam with the committees, because they often see the women’s game as a threat to the men and their bias is to protect the men, rather than drive the women’s game forward.

The newly announced strategy, while it includes leadership and governance within its scope, it appears to consider that the necessary structures are there and are willing, stating; “Irish rugby has the governance structure, people and training to enable decision making that benefits the Women and Girls game.”

History tells us this simply isn’t the case. In the not-too-distant past, both Munster and Leinster clubs voted to deny women’s AIL teams the same senior status enjoyed by men’s team, and the benefits that come with it. Only after considerable uproar in the media and battling from within the structures was this overturned. However, the committees are made up of the same people with the same biases, who will continue to stand in the way of progress if given the opportunity.

To truly succeed, it is imperative that the governance is made up of individuals whose personal priority is the women's game, who come from the women's game and who don't see women's rugby as a threat to the traditions of the game.

The game from a women’s perspective is very much at a pivotal point, where women’s sport is growing across the board both in participation and in visibility. The ambition within the IRFU is certainly there, but removing the roadblocks and ceasing the view the women’s game through a lens of men’s rugby will truly allow the game to thrive and compete with other sports. No more so than in a year where the Rugby World Cup is a short hop across the pond and set to be the biggest and most visible one yet.

Irish Women's Rugby Supporters Club

Ailbhe O'Nolan