All the Mahi, None of the Treats
“Women’s rugby is subsidising the men’s losses”
Women’s rugby is currently experiencing an extraordinary surge in popularity in New Zealand. Since 2012, the number of registered women rugby players has doubled and women now make up nearly one fifth of the 150,000 rugby players in New Zealand. While the passion and potential of women’s rugby is thriving, the industry and space for wide-reaching success isn’t keeping up.
At the peak level of professional women’s rugby in New Zealand, players continue to be paid considerably less than their male counterparts. Since 1991, the Black Ferns (New Zealand’s senior women’s rugby team) have won five Rugby World Cups and have obtained one of the best winning percentages in international rugby, close to 90 per cent. The All Blacks on the other hand have amassed three world cup wins and champion a 77.4 per cent success rate. New Zealand’s professional women’s rugby team is attaining incredible statistics yet their pay is not a true reflection of their merit. Once earning a mere $8000 - $10,000 each season, the Black Ferns players are now earning $15,000 - $30,000. Prior to this, the All Blacks 2015 World Cup victory was worth $160,000 to each player, while the Black Ferns took home $10,000 that season.
The most detrimental result of the women’s pay gap is the amount of time they can attribute to training and traveling while still making a living. Imagine Beauden Barrett making your morning coffees to make ends meet. Steven Tew, New Zealand Rugby’s Chief Executive, in 2018 said his organisation will continue to spend $5 million - $7 million more than it earns to hold on to their prized players. In 2020, New Zealand Rugby accounted for a $7.4million loss. Essentially, “women’s rugby is subsidising the men’s losses” says Radio New Zealand sports commentator Alice Soper. “What’s funny about these guys is it doesn’t make the money to support itself… men’s rugby is hugely expensive to run and it doesn’t make sense to invest so much.”
Soper is one of many rugby players to give their sport a go beyond New Zealand borders. Like many, she recalls the greater resources poured into women’s rugby overseas while playing in the English premiership for two years. Soper says “there is so much more coverage of women’s rugby in England. But a lot of the same problems are everywhere.” Far North rugby player Jaymie Hilton-Jones recognised the same disparities while playing varsity rugby in Michigan, USA. Hilton-Jones says the funding women’s rugby teams received was “incredible”. “They have a way bigger budget and everything is paid for.” Interestingly, but to no surprise, Hilton-Jones says the “skill is probably not as good as New Zealand, but the passion and numbers are there”.
Rugby is NZ’s national sport yet international countries are outdoing us and providing their players superior resources. Wellington local club teams such as Marist St Pats are already two months into preseason training. The effort they put into their passion and their sport is unmatched and isn’t being rewarded. Soper says disparities in rugby starts at grassroots club level.
It begins with ensuring women’s teams aren’t competing with the many men’s teams for resources such as coaches and uniforms. “Everything we’ve had, our team and coach has had to go out and find the funding for,” says Marist St Pats rugby player Saraya O’Dea. “Secondary boy students are getting full scholarships and everything funded to help them getting to the top, the girls just don’t get that. We pay for the fees out of our own pocket, as well as our training gear and physiotherapy.”
A match rugby ball costs $120. It could easily be confused with a Black Fern’s pay cheque. Soper says “until those boardrooms look like us, it’s going to be hard”. In 2018, New Zealand Rugby’s Head of Women’s Rugby Development Cate Sexton, said the recent successes of the Black Ferns are a major contributor to the growth of women’s rugby, inspiring others to give rugby a go. With more opportunity available to women players, more engagement and success will follow.
Who knew the next Women’s Rugby World Cup is being hosted in New Zealand and has been postponed for 2022? I do wonder if the famed international buntings will hang through pubs and shops, likewise classrooms and offices spaces. Or, if we’ll have our national team plastered on posters with the team line up? Perhaps Covid-19 is the reason no one is talking about it? Or perhaps women’s rugby in New Zealand just doesn’t receive the funding, promotion and recognition that equates to its success and potential.
It was in 2007 that 2011’s Rugby World Cup Minister Trevor Mallard announced a four-year campaign to ensure the economic benefits of hosting one of the largest sporting events in the world, were long-lasting and maximised. In the midst of a pandemic when our international tourism income is at a crippling low, hosting a world cup celebrating our national sport sounds like the perfect opportunity to capitalise on. We have the viewership of a nation that lives and breathes this sport. The Black Fern’s last world cup win captured a record TV audience of 2.6 million in the UK. Let’s give our national women’s rugby team the promotion they are worthy of, and watch them beat that next year.