PRESS RELEASE — Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) is proud to be partnering with ChildFund Rugby, a global non-profit focused on developing young people’s leadership abilities through rugby, to host a series of Grassroots to Global forums in each WER market in early 2025.
Each forum is open to girls and women in the community age 16-30. Participation in the program is free thanks to the support of ChildFund Rugby, who will provide grants to cover the cost of attendance. Interested participants can apply here. Deadline to apply is Jan. 6, 2025. The first forum is scheduled for January 18-19 in Denver, Colo., during the Women’s Rugby Coaches & Referees Association (WRCRA) Conference.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Led by girls and women working and participating in grassroots rugby and hosted by the rugby community, the process will support and facilitate Forum participants to jointly:
i) identify strategies to address barriers and boost enablers that support girls and women to stay in rugby;
ii) agree on concrete and time-bound actions to implement strategies within their community networks, and;
iii) propose actions to support national, regional and international institutional gender equity commitments.
ChildFund Rugby is providing technical support and funding to Women’s Elite Rugby to host these events and regional coordination support to ensure results from each Forum are collated and analyzed to share with international stakeholders and support the call to action at all levels. Building on national consultations from the 2021 Series, Grassroots to Global 2025 will have a thematic focus on creating an enabling environment to get more women into coaching to bring in and keep more girls in the sport.