New Womens Competition
Posted on 20 October 2016
The RFU has announced that a new Women’s Competition will be launched in September 2017, replacing the current Women’s Premiership.
The new competition is designed to enable England to become the dominant force in international women’s rugby by developing a domestic environment in which players are identified, developed and prepared for international rugby, through the provision of high-quality coaching and support services in clubs, and the maintenance of an intense competition which demands high and consistent levels of performance.
If you are interested in receiving further information about this please email womenscompetition@rfu.com by Friday 28 October with name, club and contact details. The RFU will circulate further relevant details then and will invite formal expressions of interest from all interested parties by 11 November. Full application packs will be circulated thereafter to those parties who have completed expression of interest forms. The deadline for application will be 6 January 2017.
The new competition includes offers a clearer, more cohesive and higher-quality pathway to link the grassroots strategy to the performance pathway, as well as offering the right access at the right time to players, coaches, referees and officials. It will be based on minimum operating standards, supported by a national Championship division. The change will ensure a high-performance environment is in place for the long-term development of England players present and future.
The proposal for the new competition was based on a number of key principles, namely:
The new competition should be viewed as new and distinct from the current Women’s Premiership competition, to underline the step-change that is taking place. It is proposed that the new competition will be branded differently to show the move forward and the difference from the men’s Premiership.
Entry into the new competition is open and should be subject first and foremost to clubs’ ability to fulfil the minimum operating standards, with up to a maximum of 10 clubs in the first instance.
In recognition of the work required to improve capacity at club level, the RFU guarantee an increased level of investment to each club included within the new competition.
