England will face France on Saturday with the Six Nations title on the line. Photo: Getty Images/George Wood
February 15, 2003 Maxine Edwards, a single mother from Beckenham, made history when she took charge of the England women's rugby team for the first time at Twickenham. In her baggy, worn uniform, her memories of that day are hazy.
“As a captain, you always think of other people,” muses Edwards, who worked as an electrician at the time. “I didn't have time to inspect the field, although the field was brilliant; there were no cracks or holes in it. We knew we had a job.”
England played France, the reigning Women's Six Nations champions, and the match was the forerunner of the England Men's Championship match later that day with Les Bleus. The Edwards team were desperate to avenge their 22:17 defeat in Lyon last year, but were also determined to prove themselves right: women's rugby is worth watching.
Despite the magnitude of such an event, in their welcoming Derek Morgan, then president of the Rugby Union, did not mention the women's game on the game day program. Women also had a different emblem on their chests — only in 2008 the team could wear the official rose.
As the men's game was a priority in England, women were also not allowed to use the main home dressing rooms. “We were able to go inside and have a look, but we were just happy to be there and show what women's rugby is all about,” says Edwards, whose team thrashed France 57-0 in front of a small crowd. the day was not covered by the media.
Back in 2003, England faced France at Twickenham in front of empty stands. Photo: Shutterstock/Matthew Impey
Twenty years later, how times have changed. England, now proudly called the Red Roses, will run out in front of a crowd of more than 53,000 people for a grand slam decider against France on Saturday, setting a world record for a women's rugby match. Advertisements for the game have been put up on London Underground trains, and the Sugababes will be entertained between breaks.
At a time when the cost of living crisis continues to affect most households, adult early tickets are £20 and children's tickets are £5, meaning a family of four can attend Twickenham's game day for a third of what what a loner can cost. tickets for some men's tests in England were sold out. In a sign that the RFU is gaining new audiences, there have been five times as many first-time purchases for this game compared to the England men's matches, and many reception tickets have been sold, starting at £200 per person. Alex Tisdale, Women's Game Director at RFU, says: «Our findings showed us we could sell 22,000 tickets, which seemed like a big jump from 5,000 when the Red Roses sold out Doncaster Castle Park in the 2020 Six Nations, but in reality actually it is not. not about one match at a time.”
We are talking about the goal of the RFU, dubbed «Project 80», to sell Twickenham in two years to participate in the final of the 2025 Women's World Cup. Over the past nine months, Tisdale and her team have been in dialogue with the Football Association, which has its own success story when they sold Wembley last year for the Lionesses' iconic European Championship win, but there is a key difference. “We don't have the same budgets as football and we can't invest at the same level as they do, but we hope our presence in this area will be big enough,” says Tisdale.
Every ticket sold provides valuable information about women's rugby. “The distribution of tickets for a traditional men's match is about 80 percent male and 20 percent female,” Tisdale says. “There is a 50-50 gender split in this match, but the age demographic is lower as we sold more junior tickets. A typical men's basket size is about two tickets, so each person will buy two tickets, and for this women's match it's 4.4, so people buy in bulk.»
Maxine Edwards led England to a 57-0 win over France at Twickenham in that 2003 match. Photo: Shutterstock/Colin Elsey
This is a sign that women's rugby is central to the future of the sport. As Christian Day, general secretary of the Rugby Players Association, says: “When you look at how rugby will develop, you look at the women's game. It's a whole new market, a new fan demographic. The women's game offers huge room for growth, and who said there can't be a double header at the Exeter Chiefs, for example. This explains some of the investment and also why we need people to support this concept of the seriousness of women's rugby.”
Saturday's younger, more family-oriented audience means that adjustments have been made to Twickenham's average playing day. Face painting centers will be scattered throughout the stadium, and fans will be able to take advantage of a pop-up fan zone, while special attention has been given to finding a new range of drinks, including low-alcohol cider and gin bars, as well as several soft drinks.
Tisdale is cautious about the expectations surrounding women's sport and its profitability. The women's game is expected to be unprofitable for the RFU in the next 7-10 years, but things are moving in the right direction. The next challenge will be to transform Saturday's record viewership into higher attendance at the Premier 15s, the top women's division run by the RFU, which is not yet fully professional.
The rise of the Red Roses should also lead to bigger rewards for the players. As Day says: “Now we are signing a contract and we need a fair idea of what their [Red Rose] value is to the RFU. I think it's going up. I think they are becoming an important part of the RFU brand and we know that players really do make the most money in rugby.”
Edwards, who has represented England in three World Cups and was awarded an MBE. for services to rugby in 2010, will sit in a special 'pioneers' block on Saturday, which will include past female players who represented England until 2012, when the Women's Rugby Football Union operated as a separate organization of the RFU.
< p>«We have a group of pioneers at WhatsApp, and some people have been talking about being emotional,» says Edwards. «In general, I'm not an emotional person, but it will be great to stand together and sing the national anthem and see how far we've come.» This time, she will definitely understand everything.
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