More eyeballs than ever the target as PWR returns

Premiership Women’s Rugby has one overriding target for the new season – more eyeballs than ever.

Be it on television, via social media, or of course, in the stadium, the world’s top women’s club competition is eager to attract new supporters.

Off the back of a record-breaking Rugby World Cup, won by the Red Roses in front of a sold-out crowd at Allianz Stadium, women’s rugby is surfing a wave of momentum, and PWR executive chair Genevieve Shore knows it is crucial to capitalise on that success as the league prepares to get back underway this weekend.

Harlequins, who count England superstar Ellie Kildunne among their number, will get the ball rolling at home to Loughborough Lightning on Friday night, while the opening weekend will draw to a close with a repeat of last year’s final as champions Gloucester Hartpury host Saracens.

That makes Shore, a World Cup winner in her own right back in 1994, a very busy woman this week - but she would not have it any other way.

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She said: “We’ve got all those corporate targets and numbers and scorecards but for me, it’s just more people seeing us and wanting to be part of the journey. We want more people watching us on television, more people watching on social, and more people watching in the ground.

“There is the bigger picture of why you get out of the bed in the morning, it’s for our athletes and for our fans. If the feedback we are getting from them is good, then I’ll be happy.

“It’s exciting, we’re in year three, so growth, growth, growth is all I care about at this point. Everything else will solve itself.”

Just a month on from that final success at Twickenham, PWR is hoping to maintain the interest that was evident over the course of a tournament which set attendance records from start to finish.

As well as the Red Roses, who all played their club rugby in PWR, there was a huge contingent from the league featured in other countries, including finalists Canada.

That multicultural aspect to the league is a strength in the eyes of Shore, who explained: “We had one in four players at the World Cup, the Black Ferns are here, the Canadians are here, the US are here, the Welsh, the Scottish. We want to tell all of those stories.

“I don’t like to compare us to men’s sport too much, but I have started saying that we are the Premier League. If you want to see the world’s best players, this is the place to do it.

“65% of our players are England qualified and can play for the Red Roses. That is a lot of players and at any one time, there are only 23 people who can play for the Red Roses, they have plenty to choose from.

“We want to make sure those Red Roses are playing competitive rugby every single week. It’s important to make sure the international competitions keep growing. So it’s a 360 view of everybody has to win for women’s rugby to win, that is where I come from.”

Shore and PWR have some examples to follow close to home, with the Lionesses having enjoyed European Championship success in 2022 and again this summer.

The way they have converted that into bigger attendances in the Women’s Super League is one of the achievements that PWR have been trying to imitate, acknowledging that the audience for the World Cup and the Red Roses is not your typical rugby crowd.

Shore said: “We’ve had a good period of time to think it through. We have had the case studies with the Lionesses, not just in 2022 but also this time as well.

“We’ve really carefully looked at what works well for them and what works for other major sporting tournaments across Europe and in this country.

“We are really doubling down on the message that PWR is the home of heroes, we’re trying to make sure that people make that connection.

“We’ve done a lot of work trying to make sure people know who the clubs are, you can’t make the assumption that everyone knows who Harlequins are, who are Tigers, who are Sale? 50% of our audience are brand new to rugby so we have to make sure we are making those connections.”

As well as the hope for increased attendances, there are also plans in place to increase female representation on coaching staffs, after a summer that saw the league’s only two female head coaches move on from their positions.

In conjunction with the RFU, PWR have commissioned a research project to look at some of the obstacles currently faced by female coaches and what can be done to remove them, with the results due to be published in February.

Likewise, current referee Holly Wood has been empowered to work on a fast-track project for female match officials.

Add in an athletes’ forum allowing the league’s main actors to influence how it develops, and the hope is that this is just the beginning.

It all kicks off this week and Shore’s message is simple: “You watched the World Cup, you enjoyed it, you loved it. Now come and see those same brilliant women play in the PWR.”