Over the next five weeks the best female rugby players will take to their stage as they scrum, tackle and drive in their quest for another title victory. However in terms of media and public attention, the Women's Six Nations is in danger of being kicked off the pitch by the Men’s Six Nations.
And yet Tamara Taylor, who captained England in last year's competition, recognises that although they were not on an open top bus following their 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup (WRWC) victory, media coverage is "slowly but surely increasing" for women. From front page spreads across national newspapers, Team of the year at BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards and Prime Minister visits, eyes were opened to the potential of women’s rugby.
At The Guardian they set their morals on equality for women in all aspects including women in parliament, women in the armed forces and women in sport. Joe Pennington, Guardian online reader agreed by adding: "Although there is a notable recognition for women in sport online there is still a large amount uncovered. Interestingly they do make an effort to cover women's rugby from a non-seasonal angle. Yet, I think the key message is everyone could be doing more – The Guardian included."
The diagram below shows that The Guardian has contributed to articles about women's rugby during and after the WRWC. There was 195 articles produced during the WRWC. Since the competition UK newspapers have produced 1,349 articles about women's rugby – The Guardian being one of the top six providers.
Its just that the women feel they deserve more. They would like the level of media attention for their rugby to be closer to the kind of coverage the men receive. They say they need exposure under the spotlight to not only encourage more women into the game but to reach a wider audience.
Women's rugby has made it into the media in the last three years for a few reasons. Among them are its success in the 2014 WRWC, the Six Nations Championships, women’s rugby 7s becoming an Olympic sport and paid contracts for 20 female rugby players, including players such as Danielle Waterman, Marlie Packer, Emily Scarratt and Katy Mclean.
"Even though the women’s game has seen an increase in coverage we all need to keep promoting it, and telling the world that rugby, and women’s rugby is fantastic!" -Tamara Taylor
Danielle Andrews has been playing rugby at club and county level for ten years and strongly believes women's rugby should be compared to the men’s game.
However, not all female rugby lovers are in the same view. ITV rugby presenter Jill Douglas said: "It is not as simple as to say women's rugby deserves to be covered just because the men’s game is, the two are incomparable. For women's rugby it is more an argument of interest in the game. To defend this, the women's game needs to take the chances it is being given in the media such as the summer Olympics and prove it is an entertaining and competitive sport worth watching and then more coverage will follow." These chances are look set to continue for women's rugby to break the media as Douglas explained that broadcast contracts are now written with a clause to say that they must show the women’s game. In addition, the appeal for equality in newspapers could be seen to be pushing more frequent coverage.
As far as statistics released by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) show it is not a case of interest in women's rugby that is the problem. More than 18,000 women and girls are playing rugby regularly now. Yet statistics released in 2014 by Women In Sport showed that women’s sport only makes up seven per cent of all sports media coverage in the UK.
Taylor, second row England International, is not looking to be greedy in the media. She explained: “Yes there is an imbalance in reporting between men’s and women’s rugby but it is not just an issue in rugby. We are still quite behind the times with coverage of sport (apart from men’s football) in general in this country.”
Ceryn Rowntree, press officer for Premiership side Newcastle Falcons, supported points made by Andrews' and Taylor's but offered a positive direction for the media. "One improvement over recent years is the tone of coverage, given that it’s only a few years since the female game was openly painted as being of a lower standard."
Theorist Mary Jo Kane looked at the tone of coverage and suggested six models of representation for women in sport in the media. Coverage across the national newspapers show respect for women in rugby through the representation of them as an athletic sportswoman.
So we all agree, women's rugby coverage is improving. But what is the real issue? Is there an end to this gender imbalance?
Rowntree suggested that it is a combination of both the people behind the coverage and the level of demand for content – with additional reasons to add into the mix.“In my opinion the problem at present is that more money is invested into the men’s game meaning that there is more opportunity for both promotion of the game and development within it. Unfortunately that is a vicious circle as less opportunity for promotion and development leads to less visibility of the game which in turn leads to less demand for content and, unfortunately, less financial investment.
“That said, the fact that the majority of journalists and commentators are male and specifically former players or fans of the male game it means that they are less likely to push the boundaries and report on women’s rugby outside of the big games or tournaments.”
Drawing on the RBS Six Nations Championships shows the direct competition in the media for the women’s game against the men’s. Players behind the cover play their part in the progress of this coverage as Katy Mclean, Captain for this years competition explained. "As players we need to progress the game ourselves by pushing it. But to follow this, I think that there needs to be consistent cover of the women's game to create a following. When it is on people watch it and are pleasantly surprised at the level of the game however there is no consistency of the coverage. Sometimes the Six Nations is show and other times it is not. Club rugby also needs to improve not just national. France has really led the way with this and are seeing great returns."
Tamara Taylor, capped over 90 times for England said: "If you look in a standard newspaper during the Six Nations you will be hard pressed to find any information on the women’s competition that is running alongside the men’s. I think the perception is that no one is interested in reading about female sport, but if you do not write it/cover it – how do you know?!"
Until the women’s game is out there and easy to access, people will not want to put money into it. But if the investment is not there then neither will the coverage.
