On Saturday, the Australian Wallaroos will finally commence their 2021 Women’s World Cup journey, after the postponement of the Cup last year due to COVID-19.
The Wallaroos will open the Tournament featuring in a triple header which will see England take on Fiji, France to play South Africa and then Australia play hosts New Zealand.
There has been tremendous build up to the event in New Zealand with organisers quietly confident that the opening night will be sold out. The venue seats 50,000 with 30,000 tickets already sold.
But what is a reasonable expectation of this Wallaroos side during this World Cup?
There is no doubt the team is full of talent. Sharni Williams will be part of the squad and this will be her fourth World Cup in the XV format. She is joined by veterans Shannon Parry and Grace Hamilton who is not only one of the best rugby players in the world, but has also shown her versatility when she competed in the National Women’s Rugby League Premiership in 2020 for the Sydney Roosters.
(Photo by Andy Jackson/Getty Images)
There are plenty of younger players to watch too including Bienne Terita who is just 19 years old and scored two tries in her Wallaroos debut against the Black Ferns in Adelaide.
But they have a tough pool in New Zealand, Scotland and Wales.
What has always been evident for me when watching the Wallaroos play is how much the team improves when they are given the opportunity to play together and to play consistent rugby (no surprises there).
Whilst Rugby Australia have worked hard over the last two years to give the Wallaroos more chance to play together, more needs to be done.
Take their performances against New Zealand in August this year. In their first game, the Wallaroos were comprehensively beaten 52-5. Shortly after, back on home soil, the Wallaroos lost once again but it was a much closer fixture with the result finishing 22-14.
If recent World Cups are an indicator, then expect to see the Wallaroos improve significantly as the Tournament progresses. In the 2014 Tournament the Wallaroos finished seventh and then ended the 2017 Tournament in sixth.
At the conclusion of this World Cup, no doubt it will be time to start looking forward and in particular towards 2029 when Australia will host the Women’s World Cup.
When it comes to home World Cups, Aussie fans always have expectations. Just ask the Australian Women’s Cricket team about how heavily the expectation weighed on them for their successful ICC T20 Women’s World Cup campaign on home soil. Watching the Australian Women throughout the Tournament, there seemed a real sense of nerves in the pool games.
It was only once the team reached the Finals that they truly seemed free to ‘release the shackles’ and just play cricket.
With Australia set to host the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2029, it’s fair to say that there is plenty of work to do to ensure that the Wallaroos are given the best opportunity to succeed. This is not meant to be directed at the women who juggle elite sporting commitments, with work, education and family commitments, but instead directed towards the structures which these women operate in.
Rugby Australia has faced some challenges recently on a number of levels; financially and at a governance level. But I struggle to understand how this can be the code’s ‘aspiration’ when recent headlines suggested that Rugby Australia was willing to spend seven figures on securing the services of Joseph Suaalii for the Wallabies 2027 World Cup campaign. Whether that figure was inflated or not, it suggests that when it comes to the men’s game, Rugby Australia has deep pockets. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the women’s game.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Currently, only two of the Super W sides receive match payments (and I must praise the efforts of the NSW Waratahs and particularly, the Melbourne Rebels who have been leaders in this space), whilst the Wallaroos are paid for their time in camp.
The Australian Women’s 7s players are on full time contracts. The sad reality is that Rugby Australia is falling behind all the other major sporting codes.
The Australian Women’s Cricket Team are full time professional athletes. In the new CBA agreed between the AFL and AFL Players Association earlier this year across the board, average player salaries increased by 94 percent, with the minimum salary increasing to $39,184 per season up from $20,239 last year. The NRL is currently negotiating with the Rugby League Players Association and with the NRLW set to increase to 10 teams next year, a significant increase in pay is also expected there.
When pushed to put a deadline on professionalisation of the women’s game, CEO of Rugby Australia Andy Marinos said “we’ve got to work hard towards the 2025 World Cup in England”.
“We won’t be held to a timeline, but it’s a priority,” he said.
I think it’s about time we pushed Rugby Australia to be held to a timeline. If not for the next generation of women and girls who aspire to play rugby for their country, but also for the trailblazers and current crop of women who juggle so much just for the chance to represent their country.
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
Thanks for letting me know, Brett! I’m sorry I didn’t include the Force initially too!!
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
Hugh, my understanding was that the Waratahs did pay a nominal fee. But let me do some more investigating. Appreciate your work and support very much!
SDRedsFan
Roar Rookie
HI Jane, I'm from Rocky too - well Yeppoon actually. You make a very valid point. Women's rugby is at a precipice right now with the rise of AFLW and NRLW. Unless rugby quickly gets on board we will lose players to those codes. I'm pretty sure the Levi sisters were picked up for 7s from AFLW. The crowd in today's Black Ferns vs Wallaroos game shows that there is interest in the game, and not just from women, but rugby lovers in general. I'm sure RA would love sellout games for the upcoming World Cup, but unless they make a move quick smart they will miss out on a lot of potential star athletes to the other codes/sports. And, as someone else said, if you're growing the game for the other 50% of the population it's going to have flow on effects to the men's game as well with more support from mum's etc. C'mon Wallaroos.
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
None of this answers the question. What's stopping women tuning in and turning up?
Andy F
Roar Rookie
Okay so are saying the money meant for womens Rugby is being siphoned off to the mens game and women are being short changed. What a ridiculous statement. You clearly just don’t want to understand reality.
Jack Ghost
Roar Rookie
5000 people in the city centre shows the appetite for women's sport.
Jack Ghost
Roar Rookie
The women's game is part of the broadcast package with Stan, why do you keep saying it's subsidies? And the game at the moment is amateur, crowds and viewership is growing. If it got the same marketing budget as the mend game it would grow even more. Some fully professional mens games in this country are so poorly attended the crowds aren't even counted. So while the engagement for the women's game could be better, the investment needs to be much better.
Simoc
Guest
So in the last 12 months the English rugby union women demolished the NZ women a couple of times and put 50 points on them. Then the NZ women did a similar job on the Australian women. So I would think the goal is making the semifinals for the Wallaroos. They are not professional like most other womens premier sport now.
Jack Ghost
Roar Rookie
It really was scenes in Newcastle wasn't it Kirsty?
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
My point is moot if you choose to ignore reality and facts. What's stopping women from tuning in and turning up now? Something must be otherwise you wouldn't be asking for subsidies from the Men's game. Refusing to acknowledge that women aren't supporting the sport and refusing to ask why helps nobody.
kirsty smith
Roar Rookie
I think you'll actually find the viewership in the women's game is up while it is down in the men's, so your point is moot And like Jane stated you only have to look at the parade in Newcastle this week to see the potential in women's sport in Aus
Doctordbx
Roar Rookie
What’s stopping women tuning and turning up to games now? It’s televised, promoted, sponsored and definitely talked about. Just a problem getting people to watch it. Surely not “they don’t pay the players so I won’t watch”.
Dave
Guest
It's so short sighted to say the Wallabies are chasing league talent so they should have money to fund female players better. Australia has a once in forever opportunity where they host a rugby world cup (with the talent coming through also having a realistic chance of winning it), a home lions series and to a lesser degree the Brisbane Olympics. A successful 10 years for Men's Rugby in this country will financially change the field of play forever. And you're complaining because they throw a Million dollar investment at a league player???? Did you stop to think that if we're even the tiniest bit patient, Rugby Union will come out of this time period with enough money to put in a fully professional womens competition that can rival the NRLW & AFLW, something we couldnt dream about doing currently with any sort of financial security
kirsty smith
Roar Rookie
Yeah i do see a cycle Andy, ignore female viewers and athletes, lose female viewers and athletes and therefore lose market share and revenue. The game continued to invest in the elite mens comp and ended up in debt. Invest in girls and see the sport flourish.
PeterK
Roar Guru
RA cannot retain its better players as it is. The super rugby teams run at a loss. There is not enough money for marketing, juniors , development officers , grassroots. The only cashcow is the wallabies who they play as often as they can. RA is in the red for millions, england may not be flush with money but it is in the black and far better placed. So right now you can say we can't afford it, because they can't. Right now it is possible for the mens game to tumble further and become like soccer with all the good players playing o/s with a pittance paid to the men , the difference though is the womens soccer team is a lot better than the mens but even there the better women play o/s so they are being paid a lot more o/s as well.
Jane
Roar Rookie
The sponsors do, the Buildcorp Wallaroos. However Rugby Australia bank the money and then do not pay the Women a living wage.
Homer Gain
Guest
Peter, you'll be aware that English rugby is hardly flush with cash at present. Increased investment in the Women's game was a decision taken several year's ago (and doubled down on more recently). The sums involved (at least in terms of players salaries) aren't vast and have been consciously diverted from other areas (hence the redundancies at HQ and the painful cuts at grassroots level). So you can have an argument about priorities, but I don't think it is easy enough just to so "we can't afford it". The growth in professional women's sport (esp football, but also cricket) globally has been pretty impressive in recent years and as Australia has demonstrated in the cricket arena, media focus and money can generate a positive upward spiral in performance, public interest and external revenues. You know that if Australia doesn't invest now, it will be regretted in years to come. This WRWC should be a great showcase this time around, albeit only three countries have a realistic chance of winning it. Next time around, with the right level of commitment, Australia should be a fourth.
Two Cents
Guest
I think that because the Wallaroos and women in rugby generally play out of a genuine love of the game and of playing together rather than for the fame and accolades that come from success, they have a very good culture to build around that will eventually pay off with results, even if the professionalism they should be given a chance to enjoy is slower to materialize. It would be great for RA to take the 15-a-side women's game as seriously as they take the men's side but look how long it took for men to become professional in the first place. Yes, RA doesn't have the luxury of sitting on its hands anymore because professionalism is here and players genuinely want the opportunity to be able to play the game they love full time, not have to try and manage it alongside all their other responsibilities as well as having a day job. It should be their day job. But this will take some time yet. What would be really encouraging would be for RA to treat the Wallaroos as a marquee brand the same as they do the Wallabies. And they should create an Australia W side like the 'A' side for the men that could take overflow players and provide additional top level experience to deepen the high performance talent stocks that the Australian 15-player women's game is lacking at present. But obviously we aren't privy to the boardroom discussions nor the multitudinous private equity meetings and sponsorship deals that RA executives are involved in constantly, so we can only speculate on what they are actually doing and poorly at that. We will only have our answers down the track when they finally actually do something we can all see. In the meantime, the girls have a very big occasion to attend to and I have no doubts all their determination and heart is focused there. It would be great to see them win and make ever further strides forward with our game. Up the green and gold! Go the Roos!
Andy F
Roar Rookie
So from the mens salaries. The player drain overseas would be ridiculous. Then your broadcast deal would be reduced. Vicious downwards spiral. If you want more money for women get some of the women (who make up the majority of the population) to watch the womens game.
Andy F
Roar Rookie
Look that’s just a silly argument. If sponsors want to pay women more then they can either sponsor the women directly or reduce mens salaries. If that happens players will head overseas for money (a top 14 team has 3x the salary cap of a super rugby team). Then the mens game suffers = less revenue. What do you do then? Reduce mens salaries even more? Do you see the cycle here?